


Darkened Shadows

by sp00kworm



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adriano The Spirit Skull, Blood and Gore, Characters to be added, Child!McCree, Dark Magic, Domestic Fluff, Faeries - Freeform, Familiars, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Mush, Gore, Guns, M/M, Magic, Magic AU, Mild Gore, Potions, Shifters, Sorcerer!Gabriel, Sorcerers, Swearing, Vampires, Violence, Warlocks, Werewolves, Zombies, cursing, monster au, werewolf!McCree
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 14:03:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8164489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sp00kworm/pseuds/sp00kworm
Summary: Gabriel is a grumpy sorcerer, and his life isn't easy in a world that believes his kind and the creatures of the night are merely myths and legend. Trying to stay undercover in a small town, and keep his business afloat means life is difficult, but somehow a small werewolf child and a blond sheriff can mess up his entire life.Based on the artwork by:  http://freedomconvicted.tumblr.com/---ON HOLD---





	1. Adrino the Talking Skull

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the work by: http://freedomconvicted.tumblr.com/

The life of a sorcerer was not as easy a life as you would think. In a world where most rejected the very idea that magic and creatures you have nightmares about exist, it was increasingly difficult to make a living. Gabriel had been in the profession from being in his teens. Though his family specified in totem magic, fusing power into trinkets and other items to be held close or placed upon specified grounds, he had quickly learnt how to perform other forms of miracles, though he still often worked through weaving magical energies into entities, be that potions or amulets. Business revolved around those who were of the night creatures, be it werewolf, vampire, shifters or even faeries. The only time he had humans come into his shop was usually for potions and concoctions, when they truly had no where else left to go. Now, Gabriel was talented, but no magic could cure the inevitability of death, and so, though he could cure ailments such as colds, those on the brink of death he could not save. He could however, stem the deterioration of such terminal illnesses, and for most, that alone was enough for them to pay him the large fee in order to do so.

Business, however, was painfully slow, and Gabriel had considered shutting his store for the day to just return home to his familiar and eat leftover take out in front of his favourite soap opera, before heading out to the grave yard for his rounds. That was, until, the ancient bell above the door chimed with the arrival of a customer. Gabriel yawned and came around from the back of the shop, where he had been stocking ancient text books of languages and magical history. As he walked around the front, he heard the whining sound of the phone as his energies interrupted with the connection. The blond then turned around to face him, ending the call with a sigh as the signal cut off completely, Gabriel being stood within a couple of metres to the radio wave powered device. Baby blue eyes sparkled as they caught sight of the sorcerer, and Gabriel raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I'll never get used to you doing that Gabe. Here,” The blond held up the large cardboard box in front of him, his star pin shining in the low light of the shop, “I brought those things you wanted from the farm. Though I don't get why you need so much lavender and rosemary. Then again, I don't really get this magic stuff, so...heh...I'll leave you to it anyway.” Gabriel sighed and took the box from the blond.  
“Yeah...thanks Jack.” Gabriel quickly collected himself, having been shocked by the sheriff's sudden appearance, “Trust me, you don't really want to know what these are for.” Gabriel opened the box and sniffed as the intense scent of purple lavender hit him.   
Jack laughed at the Latino, “Oh I'm sure its as dark and gloomy as you make yourself out to be.” He gave a wave as he moved back towards the door, hips swinging lightly with each step. Gabriel huffed and had to drag his eyes away from the tantalising, swaying backside in his vision, focusing on the jar of ground up hooves with a scowl.  
“Let me know if you need anything else from the farm, I'll be happy to bring it to you. It's the least I can do.” With a smile and a wave, the sheriff was out of the door and gone, his car rolling away from the curb smoothly.

Gabriel had saved Jack a couple of months ago. The officer had been in an explosion, the nearby Deadlock gang, notorious for their dabbling in the dark arts, though the authorities didn't know that at the time, had let off shrapnel bombs in a compound that was to be raided. The sorcerer had happened to be making his way back from his late night venture to the 'Pool of Clarity', where faeries liked to gather for his wares, and had watched the compound light up with bright bursts of orange light. Screams had erupted after the sounds of the explosions, and despite himself, he found his legs moving, his feet pounding against the tarmac as he came to the sight. Bodies were mangled and mutilated, limbs hanging off or all together torn clean off bloodied torsos. The only officer alive had been Jack, writhing on the floor, his chest and legs cut, a hand covering his eyes, blood pouring between them as he screamed in agony.   
The warlock had quickly snapped into action, drawing out a potion for the pain, ramming it into the officer's mouth, holding his nose so he swallowed the green coloured liquid. Eyes lighting up red, the sclera bleeding slowly to black as the red magic curled around his fingers. Gathering the energy between his palms, Gabriel tugged the hand over the eyes away and forced his palm over them, whispering words of power as the red wisps ran over the flesh, repairing the damage as best as he could. The policeman had stilled beneath him eventually, after wailing as the magic coursed through him, repairing and pulling tissues back together. When Gabriel finally pulled his hands away, Jack had passed out, the only visible damage a few scars across his eyelids and nose. It was then that he had slumped over, exhausted and drained of his magic. He'd woken up later in a strange home, and had been greeted by beautiful blue eyes looking down at him, a damp cloth on his forehead. The magic was faint but greeted him when he opened his eyes, and he thanked the spirits that he hadn't overly drained himself. It had been close, and he'd been stupid that night, nearly killing himself to save someone. Though, he reasoned later, the sight in front of him, and breakfast, had been more than worth the trouble. A good pampering was nice once in a while.

Gabriel watched the standard issue cop car pull away with mild interest, his lips set in a thoughtful pout as he routinely tugged the jars and bundles of flowers and other strange things out of the box. Orchids, he was shocked that Jack could grow those on his farm, he'd make sure to ask for some more varieties next time. Carefully, he placed the items in the back of his shop in the workshop, alphabetised on his shelves so they were easy to grab when needed. The skull on his desk rattled, and with a roll of the eyes, Gabriel spoke up.  
“What do you want Adriano?” The skull rattled in response, a glow emitting from it, dark blue spots formed in the darkness of the eye sockets. The white vessel rocked and tipped over, the jaw snapping up and down.  
“Mierda! Gabe! Come on! A little help here?!” Gabriel placed his box down and walked over, setting the skull up on his jaw with an eye roll, “Thanks amigo. Now, what exactly do you need all of that for? You're not making any potions without me are you?” The spirit in the vessel cackled, the sound echoing inside the hallow cavity where the brain once was. 

Adriano wasn't a familiar, but a spirit guide that all sorcerers acquired at the tender age of sixteen from the High Council. The skull had been his companion for years now, and had only grown more and more annoying the older Gabriel got. The spirit wasn't exactly tame either, and was rather some form of demon some speculated, that had been imprisoned in the vessel many years ago. Either way, Adriano had been the worst family heirloom, and present, he had ever received. Being as irritable as he was, the cheeky skull spirit was quick to annoy Gabriel as soon as he entered his workshop in a morning, right up until he left it in the late ours of the night. However annoying though, the spirit was very good at giving him advice and helping with focusing magical recipes. Adriano could even give him advice on what exactly to put into the potions he created. In that aspect, the loud annoying ghostly spirit was helpful- and only that aspect.

“Soooo. Gabe. Why aren't you jumping on that blond guy? I figured he'd be exactly your type, you know. Blond, blue eyed, very white.” Gabriel clicked his fingers, his eyes glancing red, and sent a book sliding forwards, tipping the spirit's vessel over onto its side. The skull rolled along the table, Adriano wailing as he was sent across the wooden furniture. “Okay okay okay! Sorry!...Sheesh. Dios mio.” The skull grunted, chuntering to himself as Gabriel came back over and set Adriano upright again on the wood. The spirit grumbled and sighed before watching Gabriel finish putting the items he had gotten from Jack up on his shelves.  
“Are you going to check the wards today?” Adriano rattled with the question the blue dots rolling around in his eye sockets.  
Gabriel hummed, placing the jar of hoof dust onto the shelf, “Yeah. I need to make sure there hasn't been any activity. They've held for a year now, but I keep worrying they'll fail.” Adriano rolled his blue dotted eyes at this, “Hey, cabrón, all I'm going to do is pump some more energy into the totems and make sure the lines are still in place, then I'll be home. Or do you want flesh eating undead freaks walking around, because I sure as hell don't.” 

Gabriel had listened to the demon rant for another hour after that as he collected the supplies he'd need to charge the wards again, and emergency flasks of concoctions in case anything should go wrong. Last, but not least, he strapped a pair of short modified shot guns to his hips. They were imbued with magical energy themselves, and the ammunition was laced with it too, making them a little more explosive than your average shot gun. Perfect for destroying zombie brains should he need to. They were a last resort, should his magic fail to keep them at bay. Strapping the flasks to the belt around his waist, he shoved a few more cartridges into the belt around his chest for his shot guns before donning his black robe. The hood was pulled up over his hair, the end brushing against the bottom of the backs of his calves. Black outfit on, and thick boots, Gabriel shut up shop, saying good bye to Adriano for the night, before heading out in his hummer towards the edge of town by the church. He'd only been driving for a few minutes when he felt the change in energy. The pressure of a broken energy barrier. Gabriel cursed and sped up, something or someone had just destroyed the ward, and they were all doomed if he didn't fix it.

 

The graveyard was quiet, far too quiet for what had happened. The dead would arise in a few hours, and so, Gabriel only had that time to repair the damage to the ward in order to keep them underground and asleep. Slowly, he walked into the cemetery, and held his breath, carefully staying away from the headstones as he moved over to the large gate pole that served as the first totem. It was unharmed, and summoning his strength, Gabriel merely replenished the diminished magical energy, his eyes flaring red and black, before moving on.

He reached the back of the cemetery before something seemed wrong. The back totem was damaged, the brick of the large cross cracked in many places. Gabriel came closer, only to be met with the large figure of an enormous creature, the fur glistening in the light of the full moon. A werewolf lay still at the bottom of the statue, its great head bleeding, half missing, splattered against the cross itself. Blood sprayed up the sand coloured stone and the matted bloodied fur of the wolf. It was huge, and still, dead from a shot to the head, though it sported injuries over its entire body. Gabriel grimly looked at the beast before sighing and drawing out a vial from his coat. Wolves liked to eat their own dead, it was a disgusting tradition, but, this was Gabriel's town, and he had to protect it from the reality of the mythical beings in the world. Whispering the incantation, the liquid flared to life in Gabriel's hand, burning a bright lilac purple. Closing his eyes, he threw it down, turning away as the glass exploded and the carcass burst into stunning lilac flames. They danced along the fur, destroying the body, burning it into mere sparkles of white light. The dust blew away with the breeze, and within a few minutes, there was no evidence of any remains but a small pile of diamond bright ash.

Turning around, Gabriel wandered a little more, following the trail of broken brush, snapped twigs and beaten down grass, blood puddles scattered amongst them all. Eventually, it lead him to another body. This werewolf was larger than the last, and was strung up from a tree, a noose tied around its neck, its feet bound together to stop it from moving. The shifter's guts had been spilt out before they had died, and the large eyes were white with death. The smell made Gabriel crinkle his nose, and solemnly, he took out another vial, muttering the incantation, his throat tight with anger and sadness, before throwing it to the ground again. The flames licked at the body, again, burning it into nothing but white sparkling dust that danced away on the breeze towards the stars.   
“May you find peace.” Gabriel bowed his head and turned back towards the cemetery, his head lower than before as the images of the dead creatures danced around his mind.

The headstones were still undisturbed when he returned, and quickly Gabriel drew out his amulet, placing it on the cross before flexing his wrists, the red powers bursting to life in his palms. Moulding the energy into a ball between his hands he then pressed them both to the centre of the cross and focused, watching as the cracks began to close up and the energy began to store itself inside the structure once more. It took a lot of effort, but soon, the totem was fixed, and he began drawing the chalk lines once more around the graveyard, careful to place things aside as not to disturb the magic barrier. Joining the lines together, Gabriel then breathed deeply, summoning the will before throwing a handful of rosehips and muttering the words of power.  
“Et signavit limite.” A red wave rose up into the sky at this, sealing the grounds from intrusions of energy or magical presences, sealing the dead away once more. 

Gabriel groaned as the magic was drawn from his body in order to charge the spell, and he thanked the spirits watching over that the dead hadn't awoken during the whole ordeal. Rubbing his forehead, he span towards his car and took a few steps forwards, nearing the large gate pole at the front of the cemetery. It was here that he heard the sobbing of a child. Scowling, he took to the shadows and watched as a young boy felt the ground in front of the pole, sniffing, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. The ears on top of his head gave him away immediately as a werewolf.   
“Ma'... Where did you go?” He wailed again, rubbing his eyes with small fists as sniffed the ground where the carcass of his mother had been. Looking down at the ground, the brunette boy grabbed a hand full of the white dust left behind and sniffed again, confused, his tears dropping into the ashes. 

Gabriel watched and felt his heart throb painfully. The kids parents had died, and they had no doubt died protecting him, their son. He cursed at himself as he took a step out of the shadows towards the young boy.  
“Hey, kid.” The pup squeaked and jumped up, his fist clenched around the dust, his eyes wide with fright as he assessed whether or not to run. The brown ears on top of his head flickered and he began sobbing once more, running over towards Gabriel.  
“Mister please! Please help me find them! We were being chased and-and-and.” The boy began sobbing again, rubbing his face into the tight material of Gabriel's bottoms. Small canine fangs poked out of the boy's mouth and Gabriel leant down, taking him under the arms, before resting him on his hip. The boy was cold, his feet grazed and bare from running, and his face marred with mud. Tutting, Gabriel pulled out a tissue and wiped the boys face gently.  
“I'll help you, now come on, what's your name pup?” Gabriel hummed and tugged his coat open, tucking it around the young werewolf.  
“My name, is-is Jesse mister.” Jesse rubbed at his eyes and sniffled, his eyes wet with more tears yet to come. 

They were interrupted by shouts from the woods. Jesse jumped and wailed again, wriggling in Gabriel's arms as the shouts grew closer.  
“Mister please! They're going to kill me!” Jesse turned his eyes upwards, his fists clenched in the material of Gabriel's long sleeved t-shirt. With a scowl,Gabriel watched the men and women erupt from the tree line, rope, pitch forks and torches in their hands. Like a true medieval mob, they shouted and grumbled, raising their weapons high. They were from the surrounding farms evidently, upset by the werewolves hunting their herds. Gabriel snapped his fingers, waiting for the magic to respond as the mob crowded around him and Jesse. The werewolf pup cuddled closer whispering.  
“Please mister...please...” His sobs were stifled with fear and Gabriel growled, drawing out the red pulsing magic, his eyes changing to black and red once more. He smiled down at Jesse waving his hand through the air in a sign.  
“Don't worry kid, they wont hurt you now.”

With another movement Gabriel sent out a blast force of energy, sending the mob flying back into the trees. Unsteadily he then ran, pulling a round bottom flask off of his belt.   
“Hold your breath, kid.” And then smashed it into the ground focusing on the workshop of his store. The yellow smoke erupted upwards, and with a great flash of light they were sent rocketing across the town and into Gabriel's workshop. Jesse howled as he hit the floor, scrambling with his small claws to scamper across the wood and into the corner, whimpering sadly. Gabriel groaned from the floor and rolled over onto his back, his hand over his eyes. Adriano grumbled from the table, having been woken up by the sudden entry.  
“What the hell time do you call this Gabe-...Why is there a werewolf kid in here? Gabe! A werewolf got in with you!” 

Gabriel growled and reached a hand up to his table, before knocking off Adriano from the wood. The skull shrieked as he tumbled off the table, landing on a pile of open books with a large thump. The spirit grumbled to itself as he rolled along, attempting to to right himself on the paper pages.  
“Shut up, idiota, I brought him back with me on purpose!” Gabriel huffed and sat up on the floor, scanning the room for the sight of the furry brown ears and brush like tail. Jesse whimpered from the corner, desperately trying to scamper further away from the talking skull rolling around on the floor. His eyes snapped to Gabriel's dark brown ones and the tears began to flow, the werewolf's little body shivering, pressed up against the wall. Gabriel sighed and placed his hand on top of Adriano whispering a few words. The skull fell silent under the influence of the hasty spell, though his eyes moved rapidly as though he was potentially shouting. Jesse watched Gabriel scoot closer and sniffled before peering around the piles of books stacked around him.

“Kid. I think you should stay with me from now on.” Adriano's white jaws dropped open at the statement, and Gabriel pushed down his hood, the curls falling around his face, smiling, weaving his hands together to summon his magic. Closing his eyes, he moulded the shape of two wolves from red magic, letting them free from his palms to run around in the air, “Your parents, I'm sorry kid, but they didn't...make it.” Jesse swallowed at this before beginning to sob once more into the turtle neck Gabriel was wearing, fisting the soft material. It took a few minutes of hugging and Gabriel's cooing for the young wolf to look up at him with a big dull fanged smile.  
“Thank you mister...thank you.” Gabriel nodded and stood up, taking a bundled tiny wolf child with him. He'd make this work. Somehow he'd make this work for the kid.

A few hours later, and Jesse was munching his way through a fifth taco, bits of seasoned minced beef around his mouth, a few tiny pieces of lettuce stuck to his cheeks with salsa. Gabriel had eaten a few before being full, but the small werewolf was insatiable, and Gabriel had gotten up to make him another batch after he'd finished the first.   
“Thank you Mister! This is the best thing I've ever eat'n!” Jesse spoke through mouthfuls of food, and Gabriel found himself scolding the boy quickly, teaching him table manners immediately. The Latino had tied a napkin around Jesse's neck when he noticed the food being sprayed down the boy and across his clean table. After chewing another mouthful, slowly, and somewhat thoughtfully, Jesse looked across the table again, putting his taco down on his plate, his hands still dripping with tomato salsa.

“So...Mister? Are you a sorcerer?” Jesse tipped his head to the side like an inquisitive dog, his fangs hanging over his bottom lip. His brown eyes were wide with curiosity and Gabriel nodded, humming as he leant over to wipe the crumbs, sauce and meat off of the young boy's mouth.  
“Yeah. I am. So you don't have to worry alright? No one knows about me and who we all are, and even those that do aren't gonna sell us out.” Gabriel raised an eyebrow, “Also, why don't you call me Gabriel, or Reyes, whatever you prefer?” Jesse's eyes brightened at this and he nodded enthusiastically before reaching out with grabbing hands, wanting to go and hug Gabriel. The sorcerer fended off the dirty palms and grunted, giving Jesse a napkin to wipe them on before standing up and taking the dishes away.  
“Now come on pup, we've gotta find you somewhere to sleep.” Jesse nodded as Gabriel hoisted him up on his hip, suddenly hesitant.

The sorcerer had tucked Jesse into the spare bedroom, tightly coiling the covers around the young boy. He'd changed Jesse into one of his smaller t-shirts, hoping it would be good enough for one night. Gabriel had just managed to lay down on his bed, having finished up the last of his potions for the day. He was drained and tired, and just needed to switch off for the night, to recharge and regain his magic. Sighing, he shut his eyes, only to be woken up by the thump of his door as Jesse entered the room.  
“Mfph... What do you want, kid?” Gabriel rolled over onto his side, opening his eyes to look at the small werewolf stood at the door.  
“Can...can I sleep in here please, Gabe?” Jesse sniffled and shuffled closer to Gabriel's bed, tugging at the thick covers, shivering lightly with the cold chill. Gabriel groaned, but lifted the covers none the less, allowing Jesse to scramble up and onto the bed and next to him. The werewolf yawned and cuddled up to the sorcerer's chest. The big furry ears tickled his face, making Gabriel's nose curl to try to avoid sneezing. Gabriel tugged at the kid's hands but eventually gave in, smacking his head into the pillow, trying not to think about how big of a mistake he could've just made.


	2. Chapter 2

Gabriel was shocked awake by the brushing of fur against his nose and stomach. Groggily, he opened his eyes to bright sunlight, streaming in through the small gap in the curtains. Blinking, the sorcerer peered down at his chest and scowled at the sight of the small wolf child curled up on top of him. The brush like tail slapped him across the cheek, and Jesse's small backside was pointed directly at his face. Gabriel huffed and placed a hand on top of Jesse's ear, tugging at the top of it to get the werewolf to wake up. Jesse yawned and opened his eyes, his tail smacking Gabriel's nose repeatedly as he stretched out his small arms and looked around the room, tiredly confused. Gabriel growled and reached out a hand, tugging on the tail sharply as he dragged it out of his face, swivelling Jesse around to face him on his chest. 

Jesse squealed and dug dull tiny claws into Gabriel's chest as he was forcefully spun around. The small werewolf huffed and pouted, sitting up, rubbing the bottom of his back as he sat up on Gabriel's stomach. The sorcerer scowled and rolled his eyes as the boy scowled and muttered.  
“That's what you get for beating my face with your tail, pup.” Gabriel grabbed Jesse under his arms and sniffed before wrinkling his nose. “And you need a bath before you even think about running around on my carpets.” Gabriel sat up, still holding the stinking child before him as he stood up by the bed side. Jesse howled with distaste at the thought of a bath and wriggled furiously.  
“I don't need no bath! I ain't a stinker!” He pressed his small feet against Gabriel's chest and thumped at it uselessly, fruitlessly trying to escape from the sorcerer's firm grip.   
“If you don't stop wriggling you can forget about having any meat for breakfast kid!” Gabriel grunted as a particularly hard kick thumped him in the neck, his eyes flaring to life with power, but smirked when Jesse looked up with wide, wet eyes, like a helpless puppy.

The werewolf pup hung limply after that, and allowed Gabriel to carry him to the bathroom. The Latino was quick to shut the door behind him and watched the wolf carefully as he placed him down and turned on the hot tap, waiting for it to warm up before placing the plug in and waiting for the water to fill the tub. Jesse placed his hands on the side of the tub and watched as the water rose against the white ceramic. Gabriel stood up and reached into the cabinet for soap and shampoo, placing them on the toilet seat. He quickly tested the water and turned off the hot tap, replacing it with the cold to make the water a more agreeable temperature and less like molten lava. Jesse watched as Gabriel turned off the taps and scowled when the sorcerer turned to him with a frown.

“Come on. Get in and I'll help you. I doubt you've had a bath in weeks by the smell of you.” He tugged on Jesse's large shirt and pulled it over the boys head with a small amount of resistance.  
“We've been runnin' for weeks, there wasn't much time to bathe, ma' said it was too dangerous.” Jesse eyed the water and placed his hands on the side again before heaving himself up and onto the side, sitting on it as he cautiously dipped his feet into the warm water. Gabriel felt his heart clench at the pain in the boy's voice and smiled softly before poking Jesse.  
“Get in, don't worry, no ones gonna attack you here kid.” Gabriel took him under the arms again and heaved Jesse into the water, “See? Its not that bad, is it?” Jesse spluttered as the water splashed against his grimy face and smacked the water with a scowl.

Gabriel chuckled and reached for the shampoo, quickly squirting a small amount onto his palm before placing the bottle aside and looking at Jesse. Jesse scowled and squirmed in the water towards the other end of the tub. Sighing, Gabriel quickly placed his hand on top of Jesse's hair and used his other to hold the wriggling werewolf in place as he lathered up the dirty mop of chestnut coloured hair.  
“Hold still or you'll get soap in your eyes.” Jesse held still as Gabriel released him and worked his other hand into the mess of brown hair, carefully massaging the sensitive ears on top of Jesse's head with the shampoo as well. Jesse hummed at the gentle kneading, but was shocked when Gabriel poured a jug full of water on top of his head. Spluttering, he gasped, but clamped his mouth shut as another was dropped on his hair and ears, the taste of soapy water already in his mouth. Gabriel tapped Jesse on the nose, and the werewolf opened one eye with a grumble. 

“Stand up, I need to wash your tail.” Jesse wiped his eyes and muttered, standing up and spinning around to allow Gabriel to lather up more shampoo into the fur of his tail. It didn't take Gabriel long to scrub out all of the muck and, satisfied, he placed the conditioner in the fur and waited, combing through the fur and Jesse's hair on top of his head, before washing it out. Finally, he took out a sponge and the soap and gave it to the boy in order for him to wash himself as Gabriel placed away the shampoo and conditioner. Jesse was quickly clean, and the water in the bath a murky brown colour. Gabriel placed the fluffy black towel around the werewolf and tugged the plug out, allowing the water to drain. He eyed Jesse and hummed to himself. It would be difficult to find something for the kid to wear, and he wasn't sure exactly what he had. 

Gabriel dried Jesse off in his bedroom and wrapped him up in his fleece dressing gown as he went searching in the attic for something for the kid to wear. He was sure he had some old kid clothes from his childhood up there, courtesy of his mother's obsessive hoarding. He thanked her to heaven and back when he pulled out a pair of jeans, underwear and old t-shirt with a print of a wolf on the front. They were in the box marked 'Gabi, Age 7-10' so he hoped they would be a big enough fit for Jesse. As he climbed the ladder back down to the floor that doubled as his living space, Gabriel flinched as he heard the sharp hiss of a bird and a yell that had definitely come from Jesse. Gabriel opened the door to his study and scowled at Jesse who was looking up at the top left corner of the room. 

A large black barn owl was perched up in the corner, the feathers of it's chest, neck and wings fluffed up in anger.  
“Hey! I only wanted to pet you! Get down here!” Jesse hollerred and waddled closer to the corner with a curious expression, his tongue stuck out from between his lips. The owl hissed furiously again and clacked its beak as Jesse's fingers danced close to it's feathers.  
“Get down, Jesse.” Gabriel whistled softly and the owl calmed itself, its feathers lowering as it stopped hissing. Its white face turned to look at Gabriel, its eyes glowing bright red in the shadows of the room. Jesse's ears drooped as Gabriel fixed him with a sharp look.  
“And just who said you could go wandering off, young man?” Gabriel placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, “Never mind, but leave Kotori be. He likes to eat little kids fingers.” Jesse clutched his hands and backed away from the owl with a frightful look in his eyes. Gabriel chuckled and ushered the wolf out of the room, shutting the bird in. 

He managed to wrestle Jesse into the clothes after a period of time spent trying to catch the naked rampaging child. Jesse complained briefly about the image of a wolf on his clothes, but soon stopped when Gabriel threatened to put him in his old band uniform.  
“Here. Put this on to hide the ears, the tail will just have to go in the jeans for now.” Gabriel handed Jesse an old sheriff hat that he'd worn to dress up with as a kid. Jesse's bright eyed gaze was mystifying as he placed the hat on and grinned brightly making finger guns at Gabriel as he did.

After dressing, and only after that, did Gabriel make breakfast for himself, and the werewolf child. Jesse demanded pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and drowned the entire plate in maple syrup before shovelling a whole fluffy pancake into his mouth. The sorcerer scowled and gave the wolf a sharp look from across the table, his own plate of bacon, beans, toast and other foods laid out before him. Jesse halted eating, the pancake dangling on his fork about an inch away from his mouth. Deliberately slow, he lowered the pancake back down onto the plate and took his knife, cutting appropriately sized chunks out of the food to place into his mouth. Gabriel nodded his approval at the alteration and chewed his own food, clicking open his phone to look at his messages- of which there were none, but he pretended to read some anyway. 

Jesse quickly finished his food, going to wipe the syrup away with his sleeve, but stopped himself, taking hold of a tissue to wipe it instead. Placing his fork and knife on top of the plate, Jesse smiled toothily and pushed his plate towards the centre of the table before humming and looking at Gabriel out of the side of his eye.   
“So...Is Kotori your pet? 'Cause I ain't even seen anyone with a bird of prey as a pet!” Jesse leant up on his knees on his chair, his eyes wide with curiosity, his head tipped to the side, his ears flicking and rotating on top of his mop of brown hair.   
“He's not a pet, kid. He's a familiar. All wizards are given one when you're deemed magically stable enough. So don't go annoying him, he bites...” He gave Jesse a pointed look, “Hard.” Jesse smiled at Gabriel's cool expression and grinned a big toothy grin, patting his hands on the table in front of him.   
“So are we going to get me some clothes pops? Or are you gonna hide me away all day?” The cheeky smile Jesse gave almost made Gabriel want to smack the boy upside the head, but the use of the word 'pops' made him stop and his heart soften.  
Gabriel huffed and cleared the plates off of the table, “Sure kiddo. We'll go get you some clothes.” 

The Hummer revved to life easily when Gabriel teleported both himself and Jesse out to the graveyard in order to pick it up. Gabriel was just happy to have it in one piece, and he thanked the trees around him for hiding it from the view of the mob hunting the werewolves yesterday. Jesse looked at the big car uncertainly and shuffled away from the door when the car roared to life. The werewolf's eyes were wide with fright and Gabriel got out of the drivers seat, opening the passenger door before picking Jesse up under his arms and placing him in the passenger seat, fastening the belt around him before shutting the door and getting back behind the wheel. Jesse gripped the belt in his hands tightly, looking over the bonnet of the car with worry.  
“Never been in a car before, kid?” Gabriel raised his eyebrows as he fastened his own belt before moving the car into gear. Jesse shook his head, his shaggy hair sweeping around his head. “Well then, you're in for a treat.” Gabriel grinned and floored the gas, laughing manically as Jesse squealed at the speed. He did however, slow down with the threat of cameras and the lurking police cars parked, itching to catch him. 

They made it to the stores in one piece, though it was safe to say that Jesse was a little car sick from the journey. But, what Gabriel didn't expect to find when he stepped through the first door to the clothes shop, was to see the blond haired, farm boy Sheriff strolling towards them, laughing at something the store owner had just said to him. Gabriel tensed and cursed, tugging on Jesse's hand as he backed out of the store with a grimace.   
“Where are we going? I thought this was the right store?” Jesse stood still in his tracks and pouted tugging on Gabriel's hand as the sorcerer tried to back away. Gabriel opened his mouth but was cut off by Jack finally noticing the two of them.   
“Gabe? What're you doing here?...” His blue eyes widened at the sight of the small child clutching Gabriel's hand, a cowboy hat on top of his head. 

Gabriel cringed and turned to face the blond haired officer, “Hey, Jack. Just out...shopping?” He cursed in his head, as the statement sounded more like a question. Gabriel scratched at the back of his neck, flushed, and tutted at Jesse as he tugged his hand whining 'Lets go.'   
Jack nodded and smiled down at Jesse waving at the shaggy haired, mess of a child, “Are you having fun out shopping with your...”   
Jesse stared at Jack long and hard before grinning, “My pa'! Yeah Mister I am!”. Gabriel spluttered and choked on his own spit as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse.  
“Hey kid I ain't-”  
“Gabe...since when did you have a kid?” Jack smiled and raised an eyebrow before bobbing down to Jesse's height and offering a hi-five. “Hey little man, I'm Officer Morrison, but you can call me Jack if you want?” Jesse frowned at the offered hand and instead stuck his hand out to shake.  
“Nice t' meet ya' mister. The names Jesse McCree.” Jesse tipped the ruddy hat on top of his head and smiled brightly. Jack burst into laughter and shook Jesse's hand before standing back up.

Gabriel was still bright with embarrassment and tapped Jesse on the brim of his hat, “Just go and find a basket for me would you, kid?” Jesse nodded and ran off to find one, and Gabriel turned back to Jack. The blond looked at Jesse with a soft smile as he ran off and chuckled.  
“So then, when were you going to tell me you had a kid. Does he just visit you or is this something I need to be seriously worried about?” The blond crossed his arms with a worried expression creasing his forehead.   
“Look, Jack, its- its just...” Gabriel groaned and held his forehead for a moment, thinking on the best way to word it, “His mother, left him with me. I've just really learnt about him existing,” The lies tasted bitter on his tongue, but he rolled with it, it was too late to tell Jack that the kid was really a man eating werewolf, or at least too early, for now, “She rolled in yesterday, said something about moving away to Europe with this big shot and left him with me. I don't really know too much about him, didn't get to see him very often but-” He sighed, trying to play the part, and Jack nodded sympathetically, looking at the ground, his eyes flickering left to right as he mulled the information over.

“No, its fine, I mean,” Jack flushed bright pink and smiled crookedly, “Its not like we're together or anything, I just thought since I'd known you so long, that maybe you would've told me. I guess we all have our secrets though.” He nodded to himself but switched the smile back on when Jesse came running back over, his small sneakers squeaking against the vinyl flooring.   
“Did ya' get it little buddy?” Jack smiled and placed a hand on his hip indicating to the basket.   
Jesse held up the basket proudly, “Sure did Mister Jack!” He turned to Gabriel grabbing hold of his hand with his small warm one, “Come on pa' lets go! I need some clothes.” Jesse grinned at the contents of the shop and Gabriel nodded, his heart breaking a little inside. As he walked away from Jack, basket in hand, he couldn't help but feel sad, even though it had all been a lie, and wondered if he really did need to open up more.

Buying Jesse clothes was a fairly easy task, the kid was more than willing to show off in the new clothes to Gabriel at every opportunity. Gabriel had spent more than he normally would in a month of his own bills, food and supplies for magic in that small shopping trip, and he almost wept at the sight of his bank account once they finished. The kid had cost him far more than he was willing to spend, but those big puppy eyes got him each and every time. So, not only did Jesse end up with a wardrobe of clothes for all occasions, but he also ended up with a variety of toys too, his favourite being a toy revolver he named 'Peacekeeper' and fired off in the car, laughing at the noise it made each and every time. Gabriel only gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter, praying for them to get home so he could feed the monster and put him to sleep for the night. When he did though, and watched the werewolf pup sleep, the cowboy hat crookedly sat on top of his mess of hair and the toy gun and horse in his grasp, Gabriel felt his heart throb with a strange feeling of pride. Somehow, this kid had already found his way into his heart, and the sorcerer found that try as he might, he was more than okay with it.

A few months later, and Gabriel had settled into an easy routine. Jesse had started in school after a few months of Gabriel teaching him the basic concepts. He was thankful that the werewolf's parents had done that hard parts of reading and writing, but mathematics was a concept Jesse struggled to comprehend. The help of magical potions hid the fact he was a werewolf from unaware eyes, allowing the werewolf to go to school, but that didn't make his maths scores any better. The werewolf had come home more than a few times, a maths test in hand, his score a fail, sobbing, fat salty tears running down his face. Gabriel had chewed out just as many teachers, assistants and other members of staff in order to deal with the issue, and had spent countless hours doing homework and mock tests with Jesse. Gabriel had gotten so concerned, he'd even gotten a tutor for Jesse. Winston, a shifter who came to Gabriel for potions and concoctions to suppress his animal form, was a year or two away from graduation and easily helped out Jesse with all of his homework, science and mathematics, and even helped out with the other subject work Jesse got. It didn't take him long to catch up and pass the year with flying colours. The report cards came in and Gabriel had never been more proud in his life, tears pouring down his cheeks, making proud noises when Jack came over for dinner to celebrate Jesse doing so well. The first year had been a success, and Gabriel was more than not prepared for the crucial moment in the werewolf's life. 

Jesse had just celebrated his eighth birthday when his first transformation took place. Gabriel had kept him at home for a couple of days, thinking Jesse was coming down with the flu. His temperature was through the roof and the migraines had maybe indicated as such. But, on the night of the full moon, Gabriel woke up at midnight, when the moon was high in the sky, to the sound of howling and thrashing noises from Jesse's room. The sorcerer was upright instantly, summoning the red and black magic into the palms of his hands as he stepped out into the open area and towards Jesse's room. Kotori hissed from his place up in the support beams and flapped his black wings as Gabriel inched open the door to Jesse's room, praying the wolves hadn't come back to claim the surviving member of their pack. 

Pulsing with power, Gabriel edged into the room, eyes glowing red, rimmed with black, and held his breath, listening, opening his third eye to see and feel for magical power. In the corner. He snapped his head sidewards and fired a warning shot. The creature was sent scampering out of the room and into the open plan area of the living space. Gabriel followed, sending a small blast of energy out again. The creature whined and took shelter behind a few pumpkins which were laid out in preparation for Halloween. Gabriel stalked closer and tutted, raising a hand. He stopped when he caught sight of the shivering wolf pup behind the large pumpkins. More fluff than actual body it was no older than six months and no where near mature enough to call an actual wolf. An adolescent wolf maybe. Gabriel scowled and sighed looking at the hat flopping over its eyes. He hadn't known that Jesse would shift this young. 

Slowly, the pulsating magical power drained away and Gabriel switched on the light in the room, tapping his foot, waiting for Jesse to crawl out from behind the fruits. The wolf did, eventually, and shook lightly before bounding over and jumping at Gabriel, tongue lolling out of his maw, teeth already very sharp.  
“Come on Jesse. Get down.” Jesse complied and barked loudly, his tail thumping against the carpet. Gabriel glanced back over at the pumpkins and scowled, noticing the wet patch on the ground behind the orange ovals. Gabriel felt his eye twitch and he took a deep breath, trying to suppress the anger boiling inside of himself. “Jesse...Did you pee on my carpet?” The werewolf's ears dipped low and Jesse whimpered before bolting for his room.  
“YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW YOUNG MAN!” 

It was safe to say that whenever the full moon was near, Gabriel stayed up all night, if only to prevent the wolf, which was not house trained, from peeing on his expensive carpets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is chapter two. It took me a long time but I finally got it finished. I'm hoping to get some new characters into the next one for you all, but maybe not. Well have to see how it goes my friends!  
> I hope you enjoyed!  
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!  
> Spookworm~


	3. Chapter 3

Jesse spent the rest of his school year doing relatively well in all his classes, and passed his History class, which had been focusing on the western aspect of American History. The entire reason, Gabriel sussed, that Jesse had paid enough attention to get an A+ in the class, must have been due to the focus on ranches and 'cowboys'. Only that could explain why the wannabe kid cowboy had scored so high, and almost perfectly. Quickly, Christmas rolled around along with another year, a busy time of year for Gabriel even after the rush for magical artefacts for the night of Halloween, and Gabriel found himself wondering just what exactly he was supposed to do and get Jesse for Christmas. Jesse wasn't exactly a small kid anymore, having hit the age of eleven and no longer being one to specifically be amazed by simple plastic toy guns from the dollar store, he was becoming harder to buy for. Gabriel shooed him in from the street of kids with a tut and waved to the young girl Fareeha as her mother, Ana collected her.

Ana and Fareeha were both descendants of a line of 'tamers', beings that, although not exactly magical in the terms Gabriel was, could calm the rage of any creature, and shifter alike. Ana had met the girl's father through bloody means, having been tossed into the great lion shifter's cage as entertainment. Ana had bravely stood before the beast, her eye bloody from a beating earlier, and had spoken quietly, timidly, touching her hands to the great beast's mane before it stilled and shifted back into the tired limp body of a giant man. Gabriel helped Reinhardt, the lion shifter, control the shifting urge with a simple charm of calmness over a talisman, but the German was far from not being in control with his beloved always by his side. Their story was a touching one, though both of the couple argued about just how Fareeha was going to turn out- a shifter like her father or a tamer like her mother. Gabriel had been unable to poke through the shroud around Fareeha's ability in order to know for sure but he sensed some form of strength to her power beneath.

Ana waved with a smile, her useless eye hidden beneath an eyepatch, her dark hair framing her face. Ushering Fareeha along she gave Jesse a little wave, to which he enthusiastically replied, and disappeared around the corner towards their own home. Gabriel took a glance at his watch and hummed as he lead Jesse around to the counter and picked up the pestle and mortar he had been using to grind up rat bones. Jesse hopped up onto the stool behind the counter top and smiled, swinging his legs as he sniffed at the powdered bones Gabriel had already finished grinding. Sniffing the mortar he grimaced before sneezing and coughing a little.  
“What do you need the rat bones for, pa?” Jesse nudged the jar of powder away from himself and looked up at Gabriel, who was finishing grinding the last of the bones.  
“I have to make sure I have enough for the charms I need to do this year. Christmas is always busy, you know that Jesse.” Gabriel tapped the bones into the jar and sealed the lid on tight before grabbing his items and heading into the back to put them away.

The bell above the door chimed while he was there, and Gabriel tutted, wiping his hands on a towel as he stepped back into the main shop.   
Jesse greeted their visitor with vigour, “Howdy Jack! How's the day been?” the boy grinned with pearly teeth, his two large, blunt canines protruding outwards. Jack chuckled and ruffled the kids hair before replying.  
“It's been good little man, now is your dad around some-”  
“What Morrison, you think I'd leave an eleven year old to run the store for me?” Gabriel tossed the towel onto his shoulder and smirked at the Sheriff. With a nod of his head towards the back, Gabriel looked at Jesse, “Go and fetch the parcel for Jack from the third bookcase in the back, fifth shelf.” Jesse jumped up and ran into the back, his hat almost flying off of his head in the process. 

Gabriel turned to Jack when Jesse was safely out of earshot.  
“So what did you need me for?” He cocked his head to one side, arms crossed over his chest.  
Jack was quiet for a moment, uncomfortably rocking before speaking, “I came to see...well, I was...” He took a deep breath and smiled, a small pink blush on the apples of his cheeks, “I was wondering if you and Jesse would like to come over for Christmas? To the farm I mean.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck and looked away for a moment before his eyes slowly gravitated back towards Gabriel.

Gabriel was in a bit of a panic. It had been years now since the two of them met, and neither had made a move like this. Gabriel had assumed that Jack wasn't interested at all, or already had someone else in his life. The thought of someone else having Jack's attention had saddened him somehow.  
Jack coughed a little, “I thought it would be nice and all since we've been good friends for so long.” Now that one stung a little. The sorcerer had to focus on not externally wincing at the words, but managed it, though his heart throbbed painfully. He pulled the towel off of his shoulder and nodded with, what he hoped, was a convincing smile.  
“Sure, that sounds good. I don't think I've ever seen the farm, and the fresh air would be good for Jesse.” Jack nodded at this and slapped on a large smile as Jesse came stumbling back into the room, the large parcel clutched in his arms.

Gabriel tried to push the events that had just occurred behind him, and smiled at Jesse taking the parcel easily from the smaller boy. The brown wrapped package was heavy with the tomes Jack had requested from the shop on loan. Gabriel could only sell those with multiple copies, and the precious few he had of magical text books he loaned out like a library, though there was an upfront charge and additional charges, should the book come back damaged. Gabriel hefted the weight of the books and held them out to Jack.  
“These are the books you asked for, though I don't have a clue why you want to read remedy text books. I mean...” Gabriel tapered off when Jack raised his eyebrows with a wrinkle in his forehead.  
“What? Can't I read up on all this magic stuff, Gabe?” Jack chuckled and Gabriel huffed at him.  
“Its not like you can enchant the remedies though Jack, so I just thought-” Jesse took it upon himself to pinch Gabriel's waist at this moment, and the Latino hissed curses at the boy in Spanish.

Jack had already made it to the door with he package and smiled shaking his head at Jesse.  
“Be nice to your pa for me, alright little man?”Jesse grinned and gave the officer a finger gun before bounding away back into the workshop at the back of the store. Jack turned back to Gabriel, who was rubbing his sore waist with a scowl. “So I'll see you and Jesse on the twenty third? I'll pick you two up if you want, its a long way out to the farm, and I don't want the two of your getting lost in that god awful hummer of yours.”   
“That hummer has survived more than you know, cabron.” Gabriel crossed his arms with a small smile, “But sure, that sounds fine to me, Jack.” The blond nodded and waved as he made it to his car and pulled away from the shop front.

Jesse emerged moments later with a carton of juice, sipping it happily, Adriano tucked under his arm, jaw clacking in a fruitless attempt to try and steal a sip of juice from Jesse's carton. Gabriel carefully took the demon away from Jesse's grasp, placing him on the counter top.  
“Ey! Come on kid! I just want a sip!” Adriano rolled his blue coloured dots for eyes around in their sockets and snapped his teeth together in anger.   
Jesse shook his head and snorted, “Like hell you're getting any! Last time you darn near drank the whole box!” Gabriel tutted and snapped a finger at Jesse, pointing afterwards, for the use of the curse word. The werewolf cub growled and edged away from the needy familiar, clutching his juice close in order to finish it before Adriano could take it away from him. 

“Jesse.” Gabriel leant on the counter top and tapped his dark finger nails against the wooden surface. “Give Adriano some please.” It wasn't a request, but more of a direct order. Jesse grumbled but relented after taking a few quick sips, and placed the juice box down on the counter for the skull to work at. Adriano rolled along the wood and cackled, before happily drinking that last dregs of the blueberry juice left in the box. Gabriel ushered the two back upstairs to the living space with thoughts rolling around his head. One specifically stuck there. Just what the hell was he going to get Jack for Christmas?”

The weeks leading up the holiday went by fast, and Gabriel was furiously trying to finish some higher powered charm magic to prevent shifters from accidentally changing, and a idiotic faery's magic totem for their household. The thing was proving to be hard to bind the magic to and Gabriel had cracked at least three of the other carved wooden totems he had made when trying to bind the powerful charm to the natural element. Wood was notoriously difficult to bind spells to with the gentle natural flow to it and low magical sensitivity, due to the affinity with various elements in the soil. Metal would have taken the magic very easily, the purer the metal the easier it was, but wood, how Gabriel despised working with wood. Taking a deep breath, he focused his core magical power in his palms and opened his eyes, the irises pulsing red as he laid them carefully against the top and back of the totem, gently trickling the red energy into the delicate wooden frame. The wood groaned and creaked and Gabriel slowed the energy even more to preserve the totem as best as he could. Focusing on the nature of the wood he, finally, eased the last of the energy into the carving and huffed, muttering the incantation.

Shakily, the warlock groaned and slumped against his chair, grasping his head as the magical drain caught up with him. The pounding in his head told him he had used a bit too much energy these last two hours. Adriano clicked his jaws from his place on the end of the table.  
“Jeez Gabe, next time listen to me burro!You could have knocked yourself out!” Adriano rolled his eyes, “Oi! Jesse! Get in here and help your stupid papá up!” The skull tittered to himself as Gabriel tried to stand up, the room spinning a little with the exhaustion that had just cloaked his brain. Jesse came into the room cautiously, wary of any potential haywire spells that could hit him. Deciding the coast was clear, he then bolted into the room and to Gabriel's side, a glass of water in one hand and two painkillers and an orange in the other.   
Gabriel snickered softly, “Thanks buddy.” before taking the pills with a quick mouthful of water and shakily prying the skin from the orange's flesh.

Jesse latched onto him in a hug and squeezed Gabriel's neck tightly.  
“I wish you'd stop taking these silly jobs pa. It ain't doing you no good trying to do this many at once.” Jesse clutched the wispy curls at the back of Gabriel's neck tighter and sniffled before pulling away and giving Gabriel the puppy eyes.   
The sorcerer sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I know kid, but I've gotta finish what I've been contracted for before we go to Jack's alright? And, with all this extra work we've been doing, who knows? Maybe Santa will bring you something real nice this year eh?” Jesse's eyes lit up at the mere suggestion and Gabriel laughed as the werewolf jumped into his lap, reciting the few things he wanted for Christmas and how he hoped Santa could bring them for him. Gabriel had already got a plan cooking for both Jesse's and Jack's presents, though neither of them needed to know just yet how much time it was going to take him to perfect them. 

Sure enough, the twenty third of December rolled around quicker than Gabriel would have liked, and he spent the majority of the night of the twenty second finishing Jack's gift and trying to wrap the awkward item perfectly along with Jesse's both store bought and magically produced presents. It was about four o'clock in the morning when he finally tied the final ribbon, and he'd barely had chance to sleep for four hours before a combination of his alarm and a hyper actively excited werewolf woke him up. Gabriel had made his way through the morning, bleary eyed, making breakfast, eating, showering and dressing both himself and Jesse before Jack rolled up in his truck outside the shop. He hoped Adriano wouldn't rack up too much of an electricity bill while he was gone- the bargain for leaving him being access to the TV and Jesse's juice carton supply. Gabriel yawned as he sounded the horn and opened the door, making sure Jesse was safely out of site, with their suitcase, in the back, before he loaded the gifts in the trailer part and strapped them down. 

Jack smiled radiantly for nine o'clock in the morning, his teeth all pearly whites, as he pulled away from the curb, “Morning, Gabe, Jesse. Hope you're both excited to see the place, well in your case Gabe, see the place again-” Jesse snickered and pointed at the sorcerer in the front seat.  
“Sorry Jack, but I don't think papa can hear you. He's dozed off.” Jesse snickered in the back seat and rummaged through the bag next to him, sneakily pulling out a small bag of toffees from the snack bag. Jack peered over at Gabriel and smiled softly before pulling over gently.  
“Pass me that blanket please, Jesse.” The werewolf handed the folded blue patterned blanket and smiled as he watched the blond tuck it around the sorcerer. “Now lets use whispers so we don't wake up your dad alright? Now buckle up kiddo, you're in for a bit of a drive.” 

The drive to the farm was quiet, the hushed whispers of Jack and Jesse not disturbing Gabriel from his nap once. Jack was sure to keep Jesse as quiet as possible by entertaining the young boy with various whispered games of eye spy, before then proceeding to tell him about the farm and all the animals he had, though that wasn't as many as Jesse had started ranting about. Jesse was glad to hear Jack, at least, had a pair of horses that he could tend to. The young boy had been wildly obsessed with westerns and wanted the chance to look and touch a real horse for once. 

Jack chuckled as they pulled onto the dirt track leading up to the house and large barn storing Jack's small herd of sheep and triplet of cows- though none of the girls were actually related. The house was large enough for a large family of people, and Jesse's eyes widened at the site of the large painted, panelled home. It was a site to behold in comparison to the small shop and apartment combination he lived in with Gabriel. Jack eventually pulled the truck to a stop in front of the porch and smiled softly before gently poking Gabriel in the cheek. The sorcerer grumbled, cracking one eye open, the iris flashing dangerous red before he orientated himself.  
“Are we here already?” Gabriel yawned, his voice thick and rumbling with sleep, and wiped at his eyes with the backs of his hands.  
“Yeah we're here, Gabe.” Jack snickered and pulled his key from the ignition, “I'm surprised you slept the whole way. Jesse was talking up a storm towards the end of it, I was sure you would wake up and be Mister Grumpy.” The door slammed shut as Jack got out of the car and helped Jesse out of the back seat with the snack bag and his own small backpack of items.

Gabriel looked up at the house through the wind shield. Snow clung to the roof but had been cleared away from the front of the house and the long drive way. Small flakes had begun to fall from the sky once again and Gabriel shivered in contempt of the cold weather. Being from Los Angeles, he wasn't too fond of the cold weather, even having lived in Indiana now for numerous years. Gabriel tugged his coat from over his legs and wrapped his bright red scarf around his neck from his satchel he'd stowed under his seat. Hopping out of the truck, he trundled over to the back and helped Jack lift the large sack of presents, after promptly ushering Jesse towards the door with their large and heavy suitcase. Jesse heaved the luggage towards the door with minimal effort, still looking at his surroundings. The perks of being a werewolf, Gabriel supposed, was the fact that the boy's strength was that of someone twice his size. 

Jack huffed at the weight of the sack and looked at Gabriel with a scowl, “Just how badly are you spoiling the kid Gabe? God this is heavy!”. The blond struggled with the weight for a moment, before Gabriel snapped his fingers and waved them in front of his own chest. The bag glowed with a faint glimmer of red pulsing magic, and began to float away from Jack's arms and towards the door. Gabriel smirked, pushing the bag through the door, walking towards the porch as he did so, “Come on, boy scout, I was sure you had more endurance than that.” Gabriel laughed as Jack scowled, his pride wounded, and slipped onto the porch before the blond could snatch the bag from his enchanted grip. “Lock the car would you Jack!” A hard ball of snow collided with the back of Gabriel's head for that remark, and the sorcerer cursed, his focused grip on the sack broken. He managed to catch the bag before any gifts could be smashed, but whipped around with a growl. 

Jack grinned from his slightly ducked position from behind the trailer of the truck and launched another snow ball. It sailed across the yard and smacked the ground next to Gabriel's foot. The Latino grumbled and placed the sack down to the side before growling and gritted his teeth dangerously.  
“You want to tussle white boy? Lets go!” Gabriel flicked his hands out in a focused sign and rolled his hands over one another, gathering snow and moulding it magically. A cold wet slap against his face made him shriek.  
“MAGIC IS CHEATING ASSHOLE!” Jack launched another snowball with a war cry and ran for the safety of a tree as Gabriel gathered his own snow and sent it flying at the bark with a growl of annoyance.  
“Come on then you cocky ass mother fucker!” Gabriel's anger was evident, and he gathered another snowball, listening for Jack's movements. 

A scrambling of feet against snow gave Jack away, and Gabriel briefly aimed before launching the snow, smack bang in the middle of the back of Jack's head. The blond gave out a sound of pain before diving under a barrage of more snow ball. Gabriel laughed heartily and ducked behind the bonnet of the truck, rolling another ball of snow together. The farm boy chuckled behind some other cover a way off, and Gabriel peaked over the red hood of the truck, his eyes narrowing smugly as he spotted Jack behind the pile of fire wood. Sneakily, Gabriel adjusted his feet and curled around the corner of the truck before launching the snowball, getting Jack in the shoulder before running at the blonde and tackling him into the large pile of snow by the side of the house. 

Jack landed in the snow with a loud 'thwump' and shivered with a yelp as snow was stuffed down the back of his jumper and top. Gabriel laughed above him, pouncing on top of him like a cat, his thighs pinning the blond beneath him, locked securely in the snow. Jack growled and bucked his hips upwards, trying to throw the sorcerer off him, but the action only resulted in him rubbing his crotch against Gabriel's backside. He blushed and Gabriel raised a single eyebrow at him. Jack lowered his eyes, only to see those enticing, jean encased thighs crushing his legs together in the snow. Blue eyes dashed to the nearest object, the firewood pile by the porch, and Jack coughed in embarrassment. 

Gabriel shifted a little and leant down, planting his hands by Jack's head with a sneer,  
“See something you like, boy scout?” The words were light and teasing, but Jack felt a small edge behind them.  
Jack swallowed, liking his lips, his eyes dashing, none too subtly, to the thighs pinning him to the ground, “I guess you could say that.”   
The sorcerer followed his gaze and snickered to himself before grinning down at the cop, “What? Do you want to put your head between them or something, sheriff?” The sheer delight in Gabriel's tone caused his eyes to swirl with magic, the irises pulsing red with tapped into energy. Jack watched the mellow brown and lava red swirl together for a moment, hypnotised and captivated, before he wet his lips enough to speak.  
“Oh god I'd love to.” Jack squeaked as he realised what had just slipped out of his mouth. Both the men's cheeks lit up with bright red blushes. 

Awkwardly, Gabriel sat back on top of Jack, and scowled, the blush on his face not making him seem intimidating in the slightest.  
“Well, sheriff,” This time the words had definite venom, “Although I'm sure you'd love me to suffocate you out here in the freezing cold, I'm pretty sure you've got to help some guests take their belongings indoors.” Gabriel snapped upright like a bow string, and grumbled to himself, still pink at the tops of his ears, as he retrieved his bag, leaving the large suitcase for Jack to wrestle indoors. Jack watched Gabriel shove open the door, and smacked his head as he watched the sorcerer's hips swing and back side rock. Groaning to himself, he dragged the suitcase up the first step of the porch and cursed himself for being so idiotic. 

Jack quickly grew frantic as he realised just how much work having another two people in his house would be, never mind then having to fit in time for the animals and exercising the horses, though he figured Jesse would help him with that. He made short work of starting a fire in the hearth and making drinks before dragging soggy coats into the hall to dry off by the doorway. Gabriel seated himself in an arm chair by the fire and scowled looking around the room. It was then that Jack entered with two mugs of sweetened cocoa, one for Jesse and one for Gabriel. Gabriel, although not much of a fan of sweet drinks, accepted it anyway, if only to warm his freezing hands. When Jack returned he posed the question, “So where's the Christmas decorations, officer?”.  
Jesse also looked around with a small pout, “Yeah...I thought there'd be a tree 'n all that.” and drunk his cocoa in loud, greedy slurps.

In all honesty, Jack hadn't given much thought to decorations. It was usually only him at Christmas, unless his mum and dad decided to visit, but with the weather so bad, and his dad's health not the best, that was getting less and less frequent. Between psyching himself up to ask Gabriel over for the holidays and work, he'd not had much time to even consider decorating the house.   
“I never usually dress the house I guess...and I've not had much time between work in all honesty-”  
Jesse smacked his mug loudly on the small coffee table he was sat next to, “Then we can help you decorate! Pa never lets me to much of it 'round our place but I'm sure I'll be able to help. Just you watch Mr Morrison!” The young boy jumped up, and Jack swore, if he were a dog, a tail would be swinging a mile a minute. Jack's eyes blurred for a minute, and he blinked, rubbing at them with his hands before Gabriel spoke over the ranting child.

“You're decorating this house whether you want to or not.” Gabriel grinned after this as his eyes scanned the room, “Its time to get into the Christmas spirit white boy.” The sorcerer's eyes fell on the left corner of the room, and he smiled holding his fingers up in a small square shape, each of his thumbs pressed to an index finger as he framed the large corner of the room. Swivelling around, Gabriel scowled as he framed the small stocking on the hearth, and the meagre pile of presents by it.  
“Really Jack? That is the only decoration you have?” The sorcerer watched Jack squirm a little under the scrutiny.  
“Well... like I said...” He eyed the door, “I've at least got something up.”   
Gabriel tutted and placed his untouched cocoa aside, “Come on farm boy. We've got to get you a tree, some decorations,” He started listing items on his fingers and Jesse jumped up, his hat falling over his eyes.  
“Candy canes! We need those too papa!” The boy grinned toothily and leant on the arm of the large arm chair. 

Gabriel smiled softly and ruffed the boy's chestnut coloured hair, “Alright alright, but you're not allowed to eat them Jesse, last year you gave yourself a stomach ache.” He flicked Jesse on the nose after this and turned back to Jack. “Come on, Jack. Get your white boy ass up. We're going to go and get a tree whether you like it or not.” Gabriel stood himself up and sauntered back into the hall, collecting his slightly damp coat and scarf before tugging on his thick boots and helping Jesse to put his own coat and shoes back on. Jack felt a small smile tug at his lips as he watched the two natter away, and he chuckled softly, before hauling himself out of the chair, and putting his own items on. He made the effort to sigh and roll his eyes at the two of them before unlocking the truck and locking the house up behind them. Patting his wallet, Jack muttered, “Well buddy, looks like you're gonna be a lot thinner after this.” and cringed at the thought of just how much all of this was going to cost him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a long time but here- take my out of date unseasonal writing that I finished!  
> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> Spookworm~


	4. Chapter 4

Unfortunately, although Gabriel did cover some of the costs, Jack still ended up spending some of the money out of his nice rounded digit bank account. The money he supposed, wouldn't be spent again on decorations, but it felt saddening to see the money he had been saving for a new horse be spent on a once a year holiday. The upside, Jack supposed, was that he got to see the happy smiling faces of Gabriel and Jesse as they got to work, placing the tree in its stand in the corner of the lounge before tearing through the decorations and getting to work. Jack left them, mostly, to their own devices, but intervened to help Gabriel drape tinsel all over the upper branches to the very top- a job that Jesse was too small to help with. Gabriel then pulled him into candy cane placing (but only where and how the fussy warlock wanted them on the tree), and Jack was exhausted by the time they finished decorating the tree, the fire place and the hearth. Gabriel stuck the final tack into place, holding a piece of mistletoe over the doorway to the hall, and Jack smiled as Jesse yawned from his place huddled in the chair. The boy was huddled in a blanket, and had been since they had finished the tree, snoring softly, drool dripping down his cheek. 

Gabriel smiled softly at the boy, and gently eased his arms under Jesse, before heaving him upwards, curled protectively in the wizard's embrace. Jack eased the door open and headed up the stairs as Gabriel followed, heaving the heavy youngster up the stairs to the room he had made up for the boy. The warlock tucked Jesse into the blankets and sheets, and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before shutting the door quietly behind him. Jack was faced with a sudden blank, and he coughed a little, searching for something, anything, to say to Gabriel.

“So about earlier...” Internally, Jack smacked himself across the face cursing, he'd not wanted to talk about the snowball fight at all. He cringed and flushed red, “Ah- I mean. So-So what do you and Jesse want to help out with tomorrow?” The blond rushed over his words which tumbled past his lips like verbal soup, slipping out before he could stop them.   
Gabriel raised a dark eyebrow, but smiled and walked along the landing, “I think Jesse said he'd like to help you out with the horses tomorrow morning, and maybe ride one of them. But I-” Gabriel shook his head and smiled, “Never mind, but the kid really would like to help out with the horses. Its those westerns you let him lend. Jesse's mad about anything remotely 'cowboy' now thanks to you.” The sorcerer snorted and began to descend the stairs, his hand running along the banister for support.   
“Its not my fault the little shrimp pestered me for them. How could I say no to those puppy dog eyes?” The two of them laughed before Jack pursued Gabriel down the stairs and back into the front room of the house where the tree glimmered prettily in the corner.

The fire snapped and crackled, licking at the fresh logs Jack tossed into the flames as Gabriel made himself comfortable in the arm chair once again. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, the warlock finally began to relax.  
“Do you want a drink?” Jack held up two varieties of red wine, and Gabriel snorted before grinning and pointing to the whiskey behind Jack in the cabinet.   
“Come on blondie,” He leaned forwards in the chair with a white mean smile, “at least give me the good stuff.” The warlock snickered into the blanket as Jack huffed and blundered back over to the drinks case to fetch the whiskey instead. He poured two shots before retrieving ice, and handing it to Gabriel. Gabriel reached a hand through the small gap he made in his mass of blanket, and gripped the drink, taking a swig before hissing with a smirk,  
“Definitely the good stuff, Sheriff.” 

They fell into relative comfortable silence, until Jack began to fidget in his seat. The fire popped, and Jack found himself glancing at Gabriel from the corner of his eyes. Gabriel seemed to be oblivious, and watched the fire dance along the logs before he smiled, and locked eyes with Jack, waving a single finger in the air outside the blanket. With the movements of his finger, red magic danced through the flames and formed shapes. The fire burst into a pack of wolves which scrambled around each other, howling and snapping their jaws, the fur on their backs bristling with licks of flames. They evaporated and a stag walked elegantly along the log, its antlers long and strong, held proudly for all to see. It called into the air and wiggled an ear before calling again and bolting, erupting into a flicker of flame. The final creature was made of darker coloured flames, wings erupted from it's back and talons dripped with smoke which curled away from its form in wisps. Red eyes glowed behind a cloak of smoke before the creature opened its mouth, and Gabriel snapped his fingers, his magic flaring to life abruptly, and the creature vanished into ash. 

Jack let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as the cloud of ash rushed out onto the rug in front of the fire. Gabriel let out a pained sigh, and pinched at his nose. The red flaring magic recoiled from his fingertips and curled back down into his palms in shining veins, before disappearing completely. The sorcerer opened his eyes again briefly, and Jack watched in awe as the veins of magic around Gabriel's eyes receded, and the black sclera bled to white, and the magic drained from his irises. Soon they were tired and expressive brown once more, and Gabriel turned his head away, tugging at his hair a little before massaging his temples. Jack felt the strange spell that had befell him snap like a string under tension, and he was instantly up to fetch Gabriel some painkillers and a glass of water. Jack's concern soon got the better of him, and after forcing Gabriel to take the painkillers, he helped him up the stairs and threw another blanket over him when he was tucked under the covers.

“Calm down, Jackie.” Gabriel tiredly smiled and snuggled into the soft felt, “Sometimes I just- can't control it. It happens...” His eyes blinked and fell shut, before sluggishly opening.  
“Go to sleep, Gabriel, you can explain tomorrow if its really that important.” He pressed a hand to Gabriel's forehead before scooping the Latino's hair back. Running a finger through the curls, his back stiffened as he felt himself leaning down. Stopping himself, Jack turned back and walked out of the room, shutting of the light and closing the door behind him.

The next morning, for Christmas Eve, was incredibly quiet. Gabriel was still asleep when Jack poked his head in the warlock's room, and so he quietly closed the door, and sneaked downstairs to make breakfast. Neither of the other two emerged until a good hour had passed, and Jack had read his newspaper and drank two cups of coffee. Jesse emerged into the lounge first, and yawned, scratching at his hair as he dragged his feet to a chair at the table.  
“Come on little man! I thought you wanted to help me out with the horses this morning? You've gotta look more alive than that!” Jack watched the kid's eyes slowly crack open, and a smile form on his face as he placed a plate of pancakes and bacon down in front of him.   
“Ya' mean it? Pa' said you wouldn't be too keen on me helping out, but so long as you think it'd be okay.” Jesse shot him a cheeky grin just to sweeten the deal, and Jack nodded, making himself some pancakes as well. 

Gabriel appeared a little while after, his gown tied around his waist and large novelty slippers on his feet, demanding coffee like a zombie.  
“Black, no sugar, no milk. I need it strong if I ever want to wake up this morning.” He planted his face against the table top and cracked open a single eye, “I'm guessing by the grin that Jack agreed to let you help out?”. Jesse's firm nods only achieved a grunt, and Jack sympathetically placed a large mug of black coffee in front of Gabriel, before ushering Jesse to go and get dressed, and to leave the poor magic deprived sorcerer alone to stew with his black coffee and cold pancakes. Gabriel took a look at his pancakes, a smiley face drawn in maple syrup, and cracked a small smile. Stupid good guy cop. 

Jack and Jesse made good time getting out to the stalls after letting the triplet of cows out to graze on their feed in the stable after milking. Jack had separately wrestled the bull out into his own penned area while Jesse cheered him on from behind the thick wooden fence. The horses were nibbling the last of their hay when the two entered. One of their heads shot up, ears pricked forwards in curiosity, and the other stood, its head reaching for the last of the hay in the manger. The male snorted, and stomped his foot at the sight of the new comer, nickering softly to the female. The female's head slowly rose, and she blinked, chewing her hay with a mild interest in Jesse. She soon put her head back down and drew some more hay, evidently not too concerned about the small boy. Jack snickered and walked over to the large bay male and sighed before carefully petting his nose, scratching at the small white diamond between the horse's eyes. Jesse, quietly followed after Jack and clicked softly to the female.

The mare's head shot up and she snorted, finishing her mouthful of hay before nuzzling at Jesse's hand with the expectancy of food or a treat. Finding none, she turned her attention to his hat, and tugged at the rim with impatience. Her dappled grey coat was dusty and Jack gently flicked the stressing male before pulling out a bucket of brushes, and measuring out the pellet feed for the two horses. He placed the feed down and lead the mare out of the stall, tying her off at the wall. Jack tugged out the currying comb and held it out to Jesse.  
“Firsts things first. Lets get them clean. Then I might let you get up on Stormwind here. Don't let her laziness fool you, she's a speed demon, but at least she wont try and buck you off like Michaelangelo. I don't think your dad would appreciate you coming back inside with a broken bone or a nasty bite.” Jack looked over at the bay male and sighed, watching the horse stomp his foot angrily. Jesse paled as Jack explained, but was reassured when Stormwind mouthed at the material of his coat and tugged the brim of his hat down. Jesse gigged and gently pushed her head away before scratching at the dappled fur of her neck. Jack smiled and smacked her back,  
“Come on then Jesse, get to work.” 

It didn't take the two of them long, with Jack separately brushing down Michaelangelo before tacking the two up and leading them to the dirt training ring. The snow had been cleared by Jack a few days ago, and he was thankful no more had settled on the ground since then. He tied the male off on the fence and lead Stormwind into the ring before shoving a large block by her side for Jesse to use. Jack held out a helmet for him and tutted when Jesse turned up his nose.   
“You're not getting on top of this horse without it on, so suck it up kiddo.” He whipped Jesse's hat off before he could protest, and shoved the helmet on over his hair. “Fasten it and stand on the block and I'll help you get on.” Jesse huffed and fastened the helmet under his chin, before climbing up onto the mounting block, shaking slightly in his nervousness of the large horse swaying a little before him.

“Now put your left foot in the stirrup closest to you and grab hold of the pommel and back before swinging your other leg over and put it in the other stirrup.” Jack held the horse steady with one hand, and helped Jesse heave his other leg over the saddle. He flicked the reigns over the horse's head and arranged Jesse's hands on them before adjusting the stirrups for Jesse's legs.  
“Now, I've got hold of her bridle so don't worry, but squeeze your back heels together gently into her sides.” Jack held Stormwind's head carefully as she began to walk slowly. Jesse squealed in shock, and leaned forwards in the saddle until Jack reached over and pushed him back to sit more evenly.  
“The more evenly you distribute your weight, and the straighter you sit, the easier a ride it'll be, Jesse.” Jesse nodded, the helmet wobbling with his head, and Jack smiled softly, walking along side them, “You're doing just fine for your first time, don't worry.” 

They managed to get Jesse up to a trot before calling it a day, and he watched Jack ride around the ring with the bay male at a full gallop, stood in the saddle, helmet forsaken despite what he had told Jesse. The horse snorted and stomped, coming to a halt as Jack tugged the reigns gently. Jesse flinched as the male whipped around snorting at him and grumbling as Jack sat back in the saddle, letting the horse walk himself down. Jesse busied himself by stroking his hands over Stormwind's neck in awe of the powerful muscles. She snorted and whinnied as he scratched behind her ears, and Jesse smiled whispering, “I like that too girl, it feels nice right?”.   
“Jesse what do you mean?” Jack chuckled, leading Michaelangelo from the training ring.   
Jesse flushed red and patted the mare's side, “Ah, nothing Jack, just talking to Stormie ya' know, nothing that means anything, just gibberish.” The blond just shook his head and walked his horse over to the fence before taking off the saddle.  
“Could you go and fetch me the hoof pick please? Its by the feed in a bucket.” Jesse nodded and carefully walked around the horses before running for the stable. 

Jack heard the crash of metal and water before he heard Jesse yelp. Placing Michaelangelo's foot down, he sprinted for the stable and froze at the door. Jesse was laid on the floor, drenched in water, the trough on its side and water pooling across the floor. That wasn't what really concerned him though. Jesse's hat was laid at the side, and a sizzling necklace was melting in a puddle. Jesse groaned and looked up.  
“Hey, ah sorry about that Jack! I really didn't mean to but the pick is up on that shelf there and-”  
Jack simply pointed at Jesse.  
“Explain to me why you have dog ears on your head Jesse, right now.” Jack's face fell into a scowl and Jesse held up a finger with a sickly sweet smile.  
“What ear-” Jesse placed a hand on his head and blinked before shouting, “PA IS GONNA KILL ME!” and covering them with his hands as he leapt out of the puddle of water. A large tail then sprang to life, popping out of his jeans, damp with all the fur on end in horror. Jack scowled and grabbed the sizzling green necklace before tugging Jesse along back to the house, thunder in his steps.

“Gabriel Reyes! I suggest you get out of that shower and explain why your son has dog ears and a tail!-” Jack felt Jesse weasel out of his grip, and the child scoffed.  
“These ain't no mutt ears I'll have you know! These are wolf features!” Jesse immediately covered his mouth and Jack's jaw dropped, and for a moment, just a moment, he was even more dumbfounded. Quickly, he recovered, and scowled as Gabriel's annoyed face appeared at the top of the stairs.  
“What the hell are you shouting about, Jackie. Jesus- Oh for fucks sake. Jesse what happened?!” Gabriel, clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist, sprinted down the stairs and smoothed a hand over Jesse's hair and ears, checking for injuries. It was then that Jack held up the melting charm, and Gabriel sighed, telling Jesse to go and shower before he faced Jack.  
“Care to tell me the truth now then, Reyes?” Jack snarled and shoved the green bubbling metal into Gabriel's hands. The towel clad wizard sighed, pinching at his nose, tossing the necklace onto the table next to the house phone.  
“I guess now would be the best time.” Gabriel snorted and folded his arms over his chest.

After throwing on some sweat pants and a hoodie, Gabriel sat down in the lounge across from a very annoyed stood up Jack.   
“Come on then, cough up the truth Gabe.” Jack's jaw tightened and Gabriel took a deep breath, regretting immensely the lie he'd told in the first place. Its not like it would have been impossible to explain to Jack in the first place, after all, he knew about Gabriel and some of the magic world, explaining the existence of werewolves was less of a shock than a Latino guy saving your life, and knitting your bones and flesh back together with only his hands pressed against you. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he began to talk.  
“Jesse isn't my son.” He waited for a reaction, and risked a glance at Jack, seeing only a hurt look of betrayal, “I found him as a kid in the graveyard. His parents had been strung up on trees and gutted like animals, butchered and killed right before him. I found him crying over his mother, and saved him from the townsfolk chasing them. He's a werewolf. A shifter that changes into a wolf on the light of the full moon, but judging by his parent's, I'm guessing he's a pure blood, and he'll be able to shift when he wants when he hits about sixteen. Everything was a lie, and I understand that-” 

Gabriel never heard the punch to his face coming until it cracked against his cheek and tossed his head to the side. He winced as his cheek blossomed red and stung with the contact, he tasted a small amount of blood from where he'd bitten the inside of his cheek. He looked up with a scowl, and saw the same scowling face from Jack looking back at him.  
“You asshole! After everything we've been through you couldn't pluck up the balls to tell me he's a werewolf! For gods sake its not even that big of a deal considering you can use magic!” Jack span around and pointed an accusing finger at Gabriel before deeply sighing and slumping his shoulders.   
“Jackie, I'm sorry okay, I'm sorry for not trusting you and not considering your feelings in this. Please... I'm so sorry Jackie.” Gabriel stood up and gently grasped Jack's hand in his own with a hopeful look, “Please...”   
Jack sighed again and gripped Gabriel's hand with a sad look, “Just please, god dammit Gabe, next time just tell me instead of waiting years you dick-head.” Jack gripped Gabriel's hand tightly and gave the sorcerer a hug. Gabriel returned it, a strange wait having lifted off his chest. Jack pulled back and smiled sheepishly, running a finger over the blossoming bruise on Gabriel's cheek,  
“Sorry about your cheek.”

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, until it came to the evening, and trying to get Jesse to bed and asleep before they could sneak the presents beneath the branches of the tree. The werewolf, although it was weird for Jack to see the sweet talking brunette kid as a big scary furry wolf, was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, eager and excited for Christmas to finally be here. Gabriel sighed and walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a mug he filled it with milk, and placed it in the microwave for a minute before stirring the walk milk thoroughly and handing it to the bouncing Jesse.   
“Drink this up Jesse, then its off to bed. You've already stayed up an hour and a half past your bed time.” Gabriel pinched his nose and sighed, seating himself down as Jesse guzzled the warm milk like a famished monster. Soon after, Jesse's eyes were drooping and Gabriel ushered him up to bed and tucked him in easily.

Upon returning down the stairs, Gabriel was met with the amused face of Jack, “That's all it took then? A little bit of warm milk and he was out like a light. You'll have to remember that one Gabe.” Jack smiled brilliantly over the top of his book and sipped at his green tea before folding the book shut and placing it on the small table next to him.   
“He's one hell of a handful.” Gabriel plopped himself down on the large couch and rubbed his temples before looking over the arm at Jack, “I suppose we best go and get the presents then before Jesse decides to wake up because its Christmas morning.”. The two of them chuckled and Gabriel stood up before they both headed to the attic, and pulled down the gifts to place under the tree.

The last of Jesse's gifts were tucked in the corner, and Gabriel weighted the gift in his hand with his decision. Smiling, he sat down next to Jack by the tree and held out the wrapped box.   
“You may as well open it now, when Jesse isn't here to ruin the effect.” Gabriel nudged Jack's arm and forced the blond to take the gift from him. Jack raised an eyebrow, but took the gift, and gently tugged the golden bow off before tearing open the red and white paper. The next box inside was simple, sleek and long and black. Carefully, Jack eased it open, and peered at the jewellery nestled on the red velvet cushioning. A simple chain of long links of silver lead to a piece of sparkling mirror, curtained by curling, glittering ivy around its outsides. 

Jack pulled the silver chain free and chuckled, “Care to explain to me what this is meant to be? I'm guessing its not just a mirror necklace.” Gabriel smoothly took the chain and clipped it around Jack's neck before touching the mirror piece where it lay in the middle of Jack's chest.   
“Its a mirror of fate. It allows you to see events a few seconds ahead of when they are going to happen, or to find your loved ones, where ever in the world they may be.” The surface of the mirror rippled as Gabriel moved his finger away, and Jack turned the small reflective piece towards him as images flickered to life in its silver surface. A blue light bathed the room as the mirror rippled to life, and Jack watched as an image of himself and Gabriel appeared before him. Gabriel smiled and moved in for a kiss, and Jack relented, placing his hand between them. Gabriel looked shattered and moved away out of view, while the alternate Jack cursed at himself. 

Jack peered over the edge of the mirror and smiled before moving forwards. Gabriel looked at him quizzically until his lips met with Jack's own. The blond didn't persist for long, and soon moved away with an embarrassed smile.  
“Too soon?” Jack shrugged his shoulders in a small nervous movement, and Gabriel rolled his eyes before leaning in, planting his hands either side of Jack's hips with a cocky grin plastered on his face.   
“Look at the boy scout stealing my thunder. I suppose the mirror showed you something you weren't too fond of eh?” He snickered and stole another long kiss from Jack, pulling back before tongues could get involved, Jack's lip between his teeth. “Unfortunately, Jackie, I like to keep my spot light.” The sorcerer stood up after that, and almost strutted towards the kitchen, “Now how about some hot cocoa? You've never lived until you've had it with mint and sugar.” Jack, dumbfounded, stumbled like a deer, before following into the kitchen, hoping to steal cocoa laced kisses from Gabriel before bed.

Gabriel heaved as Jesse landed on his stomach the next morning. The werewolf child almost yipped like a dog in excitement, his tail wagging side to side. The sorcerer groaned and covered his eyes as the curtains were tossed open, the sun barely over the horizon.   
“Jesse! For gods sake! Its only just turned seven o'clock!” He then shoved a pillow over his face and wanted to howl in despair at the time he'd just read.   
“COME ON PA! ITS CHRISTMAS!” Jesse almost screamed, and Gabriel fought with himself in order to not toss his pillow at the boy's head, and send him back to bed. Instead, after taking a deep breath, he pushed the covers back, and heaved himself up.  
“Fine. I'm up, I'm up. Is Jack awake?” Gabriel yawned and tugged on his slippers before grabbing his dressing gown and sliding his feet along the floor towards the bathroom. Jesse followed like a puppy, and Gabriel pushed his head out of the bathroom as he went to pee.  
“Jack's been up for an hour already pa! He's downstairs making you coffee though...” Jesse whined, knowing he had already annoyed the sleep deprived warlock- and a sleep deprived warlock was not a happy warlock.

After being tugged downstairs by an insistent Jesse, Gabriel accepted a steaming cup of black coffee, and drank two mugs before he could even face the flashing lights of the tree and Jesse's constant vibrating against the floor. The boy was simply just too excited. Jack held him back until Gabriel was sat down, and eventually relented, letting Jesse choose the first present to open.   
“Get the one with the golden bow first, Jesse.” Gabriel pointed to the present at the bottom of the pile and smiled as Jesse's face twisted in suspicion. Nevertheless, Jesse pulled the present out and undid the bow before tearing the paper away, to reveal another hard wooden box. Gabriel smiled and watched as Jesse flicked the small unlocking mechanism which popped open the top of the dark wooden box.

Reaching inside, Jesse tugged out a beautifully detailed wooden wolf carving. The mane of the wolf cascading down the knots of the wood and Jesse's mouth dropped as he span the carving over in his hands, gently petting at the lines that detailed fur. Gabriel leaned forward, and twitched his fingers as though he was tugging invisible strings on a marionette, his eyes flaring lava red. The wolf's head turned up to the ceiling and its mouth opened to release a howl into the air. The eyes were clear gems, and they began to shine a brilliant white before the spell was dispersed.   
“Its for you to use to escape danger if I'm not around. The howling mechanism triggers an enchantment which calls spectre wolves to your aid. You just push the tail left. The eyes are a finer spell though. They're designed to glow when vampires or other undead ghouls are nearby so you can get away.” Gabriel swirled his finger and smiled as the wolf howled again for Jesse's entertainment. The young boy sniffled for a moment before launching himself at Gabriel.  
“Thank you so much pa...for everything.” Jesse nuzzled Gabriel's shoulder and the stubborn wizard smiled.  
“De nada, pequeño lobo.” He hugged him tightly, vowing that this truly was the best Christmas as he pulled Jack into the squeeze and pressed a kiss to the blond's cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "De nada, pequeño lobo." - "No problem, little wolf."
> 
> Finally caught up with my own ideas. And now I know where I'm going, so hopefully you guys enjoyed the last of the fluffy holidays. Bonus points for the specific link anyone can make for the fire scene!!!!!  
> Thank you for reading, reviewing and leaving kudos!
> 
> Spookworm~


	5. Chapter 5

The arguments about the living arrangements were long, Gabriel not wanting to leave the shop, and Jack equally being tied to his home. Eventually, they compromised, and Gabriel and Jesse moved in with Jack, the two of them made the upper floor into an apartment that could be to magical tenants. The current renters were two friendly women. One a bear shifter, the other a Huli Jing, or fox spirit. They were a strange pair, the Russian woman towering Gabe and Jack and her companion, while the smaller Chinese girl was always smiling, giggling mischievously. They were genuinely nice people, and Gabriel had learned a lot from Mei, the fox spirit, in how he could go about Chinese, paper rune magic. Gabriel was sad to see his apartment go, but comforted himself in the fact that he still owned the place, and he could keep his shop open. The magical folk from the surrounding areas would be lost without his place, and he hated to think of all the potential shifters that would risk accidentally transforming each day.

Jesse grew fast in the years that passed, and he was quickly the age of thirteen, and growing lanky and tall. He had yet to fill out in places and so appeared gangly, all arms and legs. Gabriel assured him he'd grow into his body soon enough, and his wolf definitely had no problem doing so. Gabriel was hard pressed to find him places to shift, and often had to spend the night in the woods, keeping the large furry beast out of harms way, steering him with fallen trees from blasts of magic. Gone was the cub, and Gabriel was terrified that one day, Jesse would lose control, and forget who he was. Whenever Jesse's shift was near, he stayed a way away from the wolf, but followed, calling to him regularly to make sure Jesse was still there, and in control. It was during one of Jesse's shifts, that he bounded off towards the graveyard, scenting the air, his dark coloured fur a streak against the night as he sped away. Gabriel cursed, following as quick as his legs would carry him, trying to keep Jesse in sight.

The warlock struggled to keep pace with the werewolf, and Gabriel soon huffed, before tugging a potion out of his pocket, chugging the purple contents. The potion made him feel queasy for a moment, but his body soon vibrated with energy, and Gabriel took a deep breath, veins pulsing with the magic, before he sprinted, quicker than ever before, after Jesse. The wolf growled as he heard Gabriel close in on him. Panting, Jesse sped up leaping a boulder and sliding under a log, trying to lose Gabriel, who was hot on his tail. Bounding over another two fallen logs, Gabriel's eyes widened as the cemetery came into view. Cursing, he jumped through another bush, and heaved, trying to get a grasp on Jesse.  
“JESSE STOP!” The wolf ignored him, and sprinted for the entry to the graveyard. Gabriel skidded to a halt by the edge of the woods, holding out his hand as he focused on the faint pull of the ward.

The barrier shimmered to life, in a flicker of iridescent red, a wave of energy pulsing along the created wall as Gabriel's fingers plucked at invisible strings, consolidating the ward in his view and moulding the magic. Jesse didn't see the ward flicker to life until he went barreling into it, head first. The magic bounced against him, and exploded into glittering sparks. He was sent flying across the road, and back towards Gabriel. The sorcerer released his hold on the barrier, and flung his hands up in the air, fingers in clawed shapes as he pulled the energy in the air around him forwards to catch Jesse's weight. Jesse whimpered as the solid air caught him, wrapping around his fur like a constant breeze. Gabriel strained, his eyes glowing bright red as he struggled to redirect the energy around Jesse and lower the two hundred kilogram wolf to the ground. Jesse was huge for his age as a werewolf, and Gabriel huffed before, moving Jesse's body around, and dropping him into a pile of leaves with a groan of effort. Jesse snorted and waited for a moment before he closed his large dark brown eyes, and shifted back into his human form. Lessons from Reinhardt had helped him gain the control to do so.

“Pa! What was that for?!” Jesse stood up, stark nude, from the undergrowth, and pointed a finger at Gabriel with a scowl. Gabriel rolled his eyes and curled his fingers into his palms before holding his hands over each other, the palms facing one another. Moving his hands slowly apart a dark purple vortex opened between them and Gabriel motioned it towards Jesse.  
“Get your clothes and then we'll talk.” Gabriel wriggled his fingers a little, the edges of the portal wiggling with the movement as Gabriel bent the energy a little. Jesse growled, but reached a hand in, rooting around for a moment, before pulling out a shirt, jacket and sweat pants. Gabriel clicked his fingers, pulling out a pair of pumps for Jesse to wear, before pushing his palms together and closing the portal. Jesse chucked the clothes on behind a tree, and came out from behind the bark, shivering a little as he stepped out and faced Gabriel again.  
“Come on then, pa, explain.”

Gabriel watched as Jesse kicked a rock and sent it skittering across the road towards the stone wall of the church graveyard. The warlock sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, the ache of a migraine from the quick forceful uses of magic setting in.  
“That there,” Gabriel moved his hand from the bridge of his nose, and pointed to the open rusted gates of the cemetery. In recent years, the paint had peeled of in curls, and the rusted iron underneath revealed. Now the hinges didn't even move. “Is an exposed line of a ward. And that ward, idiot,” He flicked Jesse's nose, hard, “is in place to keep zombies underground. Without it, the town would be overrun with dead people trying to eat their family members. You running full pelt at the magical energies would have shattered the ward lines, and in a couple of hours dead people would have been animating and walking around.” Gabriel sat himself down on a tree stump, and watched Jesse look over at the tombstones. He furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the trees on the right side of the graveyard.

“I smelt something, something weird. It smelt like...like my own pa.” Jesse unconsciously ran his tongue over his slightly elongated canines and shook his head, moving the hair which had caught around his large furry ears.  
Gabriel frowned and pointed towards the cemetery, “Kid, they've been gone for years. There's no coming back from that...” Carefully, the warlock stood up and wrapped his arms around the teenager. Jesse sagged against his adopted father and sniffled a little.  
“I miss 'em so much pa... I never even knew 'em that well.” He grew quiet as sobs choked his throat and robbed him of his breath. Fat tears dripped on to the black leather trench coat Gabriel was wearing, and the Latino gently rubbed a hand in soothing circles on Jesse's back.  
“Jesse, come on, look at me.” Gabriel gripped Jesse's chin in both of his hands, calloused from years of magic sizzling against the skin.

Looking into Jesse's lighter caramel tinged eyes with his darker ones, he gave the boy's face a squeeze, “Not for one moment do you think you failed them that night, you hear me Jesse? They wanted you to live, and they'd be proud of the wolf and person you are. I've seen what those people did, and maybe one day that revenge will feel sweet, but I'm telling you, it's all bitter in the end, just like this constant dwelling. They're dead yes, but that doesn't mean you can't honour their memory, now, for as long as you live.” He shook Jesse's face with a look of silent admiration, “I'm so proud of you Jesse, never forget that.” and enveloped him in a hug once more, whispering soothing words as Jesse sobbed into his coat once more.  
“I l-love you pa!” He wailed, and Gabriel smiled into the unruly brown hair.  
“I love you too, mi pequeño lobo.” He gave Jesse one last squeeze and drew out a potion from his belt, before popping the cork. “Now let's go see if Jack managed to burn down the house.” Gripping Jesse's hand, he smashed the vial against the ground, focusing on Jack's farm-house as the yellow smoke erupted in a burst of violent energy. Green sparks fizzled around them as they appeared on the drive of the large farm-house.

Jack greeted them on the porch, tapping his foot on the wooden slats, his arms crossed angrily.  
“When I said keep an eye on him, that wasn't an invitation to avoid movie night and go gallivanting off after Jesse. That meant keep a seeing glass nearby so you could interfere if necessary. Jesse is more in control than you give him credit for Gabe.” The blond sighed and shuffled back into the house, his slippers sliding across the wooden flooring with ease.  
Gabriel groaned and popped open the buttons of his duster before hanging it up, “That's another thing I have to make up to him.”  
Jesse snickered behind him and threw his jacket on a coat hook, “More expensive theatre tickets then?” Gabriel smacked him upside the head at the teasing comment and huffed, stalking into the kitchen after Jack to try to quell his boyfriends wrath. The werewolf crept up the stairs to his room, squinting as the sun began to peak over the horizon, signalling dawn was close. Shrugging off his clothing, he listen to the whispering explanations from Gabriel in the kitchen before collapsing into his bed, still stinking of wet dog and mud, and fell into a deep sleep.

He woke up the next day, in the afternoon, once he'd checked the digital clock on his bed-side table, by the smell of sizzling bacon. Immediately his stomach groaned and rumbled, demanding calories. No doubt Jesse was probably going to eat double the recommended calories. It was always the same after a shift. Dragging his head from the pillow, Jesse slumped up and squinted, almost crawling down the stairs to the kitchen-dinner for food. Gabriel was the one cooking, Jack having headed off to work at six am, and he turned around with an equally as tired look before he slapped Jesse's hand away from the black coffee in the jug.  
“You know full well that you're not allowed coffee, kid. Sit down and drink your apple juice.” Gabriel pointed his spatula towards the table and flipped the bacon in the frying pan one last time before placing it on a large plate of other foods. Scrambled eggs, beans, toast, sausage, bacon and grilled tomatoes. Jesse almost cried at the high calorie food and shoved a whole slice of bacon into his mouth with a groan.  
“S'good pa. I wuv wu soo mooch.” The garbled words were restricted by a mouthful of food and Gabriel pointed the spatula at him again as he fried off some more bacon for himself.  
“Don't talk with your mouth full. Manners at the table please.”

Jesse swallowed his mouthful of food and rolled his eyes behind Gabriel's turned back moving his mouth mockingly. He yelped as he felt the painful tug of a beak on his ears. Kotori screeched in his ear before cooing mockingly, nipping at Jesse's human ears haughtily. The Barn Owl tittered and flapped its wings before hopping up on to the back of the chair to tug on the hairs at the back of Jesse's neck harshly.  
“Stupid bird brain! Come 'ere!” Jesse whipped around with a growl and grabbed at the strangely dark coloured owl. The creature melted into shadows, eyes glowing the same colour of Gabriel's magic, and Jesse huffed glaring over his shoulder at Gabriel, who was still seemingly oblivious, cooking. “S'not funny pa!” Jesse stomped his foot on the ground and batted at the owl as it swooped at his ears again, this time the large wolf ones which he hadn't willed away yet. Gabriel chuckled by the hob of the oven and clicked it fingers, before the owl swooped away before phasing through the window and off into the trees.  
“Now you'll know better. Eat your breakfast Jesse.” He placed his own plate of food down and snickered one last time before tucking in. Jesse begrudgingly continued eating his own food.

The rest of the day passed smoothly, and Jack returned home from work with a nagging feeling deep-rooted in his mind. He entered the house in time to see Gabriel bolt upright on the couch. Gabriel's head thrummed with a warning, his magic fizzing into life in his centre. With a cry, he curled in on himself and cradled his head as something smashed against his magic with a magnificent force. He barely had the time to centre himself before another barrage landed against his energies. Huffing he sat up just as Jack sprinted into the room. He managed to open an eye, squinting and gasping as he had to let his magical resistance fall against the onslaught.  
“Someone is...” He coughed, “Someone is tampering with the wards. They severed my ties with them by breaking the lines and forced my influence out. I couldn't keep a hold on them.” Heaving a deep breath, Gabriel got to his feet and shook his head, the effects of the bust of power beginning to wane already.  
Jack looked at him with wide blue eyes, “Oh god. The graveyard...” Gabriel nodded and quickly moved around him and sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time to grab his stored supplies from the study.

Reaching the study, Gabriel tossed open his chest of equipment and grabbed his belts and shotguns, quickly strapping everything around his waist, shoving vials of potions into them and more magical rounds into his chest belt. Slamming the chest shut he ran back down the stairs and grabbed his Hummer's key from a small bowl before speedily pulling on his duster. Jack stopped him at the door.

“Gabriel calm down, just give me a minute. I'm coming too.” Jack was shoving his regulation pistol into his holster and tugged Gabriel away from the door with a strong hand.  
“Jackie no-” Gabriel held Jack's face in his hands, only to have them covered, and be faced with a determined look.  
“I'm coming whether you like it or not-”  
“AND I'M COMING TOO PA!” Jesse jumped off the last three steps of the stairs, and Gabriel immediately rushed forwards, forcibly turning Jesse back around.  
“No way in hell Jesse. You're staying here. You need to ring Ana and Reinhardt okay?” Gabriel carefully handed him the house phone, “Get them to pick you up and tell them everything okay? I can't have you there if anything bad happens. You need to be safe.” Jesse opened his mouth, but closed it with a serious nod and dialled Ana's phone number as Gabriel and Jack made their way out of the door.  
Sure enough, the wards had been broken, completely shattered by a great magical energy. Gabriel and Jack flinched at the groans that sounded as they got out of the car. Sure enough, the dead had already begun rising from their graves. Jack had managed to grab his regulation shot-gun from his car before they left, and he pumped the action with a deep breath. The zombies were lumbering, and walked around unsteadily, unseeing and restricted. Thankfully, the gates were still closed and none had escaped from the confines of the cemetery. Gabriel licked his teeth at the resounding vibrating of the air. An enormous amount of dark energy was circling, gathering itself around the graveyard and crumbling church. Dark magic was forbidden, and any wizard knew it, so whoever was doing this was unconcerned about the council's punishments for crimes. They would be facing trial by fire for this.

“Gabriel. What do we do?” Jack gripped his shotgun tightly, his knuckles turning white, his hands steady despite his clear worry. Gabriel took a moment to look at the horror movie before them.  
“We fight our way to the church. Whoever is doing this is amassing a huge amount of dark energy above the spire. My best guess is that they want a mass resurrection of the dead. We need to stop it.” Jack nodded and followed him to the gates. Gabriel took a deep breath.  
“Lets do this Jackie, and get home in time to tuck Jesse into bed.” The two of them nodded with bared teeth before Gabriel kicked the gates open with a thick, heavy black boot. “Bring it on you zombie fuckers!”

The two of them preserved ammunition carefully. Jack stumbled a little into Gabriel's back and huffed, aiming his shotgun at a zombie female's head before pulling the trigger. The walker's head exploded, the back of their thinly covered skull exploded and the creature fell forwards with a garbled groan. Gabriel grinned, blood splattered up his coat and ran before firing twice and spinning around to face another two zombies. They stumbled forwards and pressed their head against the barrels of his double shot guns, growing. Gabriel pulled the triggers, watching at they fell at his feet before firing another three rounds and whirling to help Jack who had pulled around his pistol, firing through the eyes of several zombies. The warlock tugged the cork off one of his vials and tossed the concoction at the feet of a group of five. With a vague flick of his fingers the magic exploded upwards and burst into shimmering fire. The zombies went flying, like bowling pins before howling as they were all set ablaze in the cloud of shimmering red sparks.

Jack and Gabriel shoved against the church doors and shoved the rotting oak doors open, before barricading them closed with pews. They laid the pews across one another in a stack and caught their breaths before turning to the altar. Jack cursed as he caught sight of the twitching magnificent beast impaled over the font. Gabriel gasped at the sight. A unicorn was dangling above the font, perfect white coat, mane and tail stained silver with its own blood. Molten metal rivulets of silver ran down its neck from where it was impaled and the creature wheezed before falling still, its horn slowly discolouring from a magnificent egg-shell blue to a dark black. As the unicorn fell limp, the horn finally dissolved into ash and was whipped away by a sudden breeze. Jack felt a tear leak down his cheek as the beast was laid to rest on a stone slab, its pride ripped from it like the horn on its head. Gabriel's eyes wandered over to the altar where a girl was stood, her blond hair whipping around her head as she chanted dark curses. A pulsing mingling purple light formed around the altar in a form of aura which licked at the girls hands. Zombies slammed against the doors and windows.

“Girl I suggest you stop what you are doing, right now.” Gabriel closed the space between them before he was launched backwards by a scream and a blast of magical power.  
“STAY AWAY! They all need to die! They took them away from me. All of these mortals, these idiotic stupid humans! All of them will pay with blood, blood that will be spilled by their own loved ones.” She whispered the last line and tilted her head backwards, looking at the two intruders upside down, before snickering eerily. “You'll pay, pay, pay.” She sung as the pounding on the church's structure grew louder. Jack pressed up against Gabriel's side.  
“Gabriel you best have a plan otherwise we're fucked!” He held his hand gun level with the doors and waited for Gabriel to move. When he didn't he looked over his shoulder. Gabriel's eyes grew black, the irises red, pulsing with energy as his magic flickered to life.

The windows finally gave in, and zombies collapsed into the church, moaning and howling with hunger. Jack screamed a cry and fired the last of hid rounds. Gabriel's powers formed a red glow around him and he focused his powers calling for the one annoying thing that could help him in this moment.  
“Adriano! You little shit, heed my call, I call you, as per the contract we have, to help me with my enemies. In return you shall have what you wish for. Freedom.” The air exploded into brilliant energy as Gabriel focused his energies and watched for Adriano's form. The shadows crawled down along the wall, and formed into the shape of a grinning mass of moving darkness. Adriano cackled.  
“Yesssss. Finally!” Before opening his maws and swallowing Gabriel's form whole.  
“GABRIEL!” Jack screamed as he wrestled with a zombie. The shadowy mass halted for a moment before rising up into the rafters of the church and cackling. Smoke erupted from the ceiling as a new creature formed. With a gust of wind the mass landed in the centre of the aisle. Wings erupted from its back, black and dripping with smoke. A smoke covered body wavered and a white owl shape face appeared, great long white teeth gnashing at the air. Two great front legs slammed into the ground, bone white claws smashing into the stone, tearing pebbles away from the flooring. The creature roared, smoke tentacles exploding from it's back.

Jack scrambled for cover as the creature's appendages slammed through the heads of the zombies, leaving their heads as messes against the stone walls, oozing red blood and small pieces of shattered bones. The tentacles whipped around in a frenzy, smashing all the zombies to pieces in a frenzy of lightning fast movement. Soon they all laid, destroyed, evaporating into green gas, on the floor, or against the window. The girl at the altar screamed, and desperately tried to drag her hands away from the altar, purple magic glazed eyes wide with terror as the monster dragged its clawed feet along the stone towards her. It paused above her, maw open wide, revealing three rows of shark like teeth. Tears fell from the girl's face as she struggled against the energies pinning her to the rock. A tentacle carefully removed the unicorn's corpse from the altar, and another swooped in like a whip, and smashed the stone carving into pieces. The unicorn's corpse was laid to rest gently on the stone, and the smoke wrapped around its body. Slowly the body began to dissolve into blue sparkles and Jack watched with tears in his eyes as the creature loomed over the girl once more.

With a deep breath, tears streaking his cheeks, Jack rolled out from behind a pew and stood up, holding his palm towards the monster that had consumed Gabriel.  
“Gabriel! Gabriel please!” Another fountain of tears started and he screamed at the creature. The monster smashed the altar, releasing the girl of her bounds before leaping across the church, its wings unfolding, pounding a few times as it landed next to Jack, smoke dripping like saliva from its teeth. Jack stared up at it, blue eyes wide with terror as its mouth opened, black forked tongue scenting the air. The white mask face slid into the smoke revealing thousands of red blinking eyes, surrounded by dark lashes. They all moved independently for a moment before zoning in on Jack's face. Talons curled into the stone as the monster studied Jack's blood splattered face, watching a bead of sweat roll down his forehead.

The creature blinked before howling and sending a taloned foot crashing down towards Jack. The blond watched the talons for a moment, his eyes full of tears, before he raised a hand and cried out. A brilliant bright, white light, erupted in the room, shimmering from the centre of Jack's palm. The light dazzled the creature, and the mask reformed over its eyes to protect them from the light. It hissed, and Jack watched in amazement as the light grew into a brilliant dancing ball of energy from his palm. The ball of light detached itself from his palm and moved into the rafters. The creature snorted and hissed at him, advancing once more, until the ball exploded violently. Beams of light erupted from it like lasers and sliced through the smoke appendages of the monster. Limbs floundered against the stone and evaporated into mist, the creature howling as it crashed into the stone head first, its legs wriggling across the room. The ball span and the smoke whizzed out of the church windows, and flakes of the creature began to dissipate into the air under the intensity of the light magic. It screeched and thrashed against the cold rock floor before revealing the cocoon inside of the back of its neck.

Jack gasped as the silken cocoon fell from the creature's body, and scrambled across the floor to it as the smoke monster growled and finally evaporated into the air. The cocoon was sealed tight and Jack shoved his hands against the membrane, panting as he saw the face of Gabriel, his eyes closed, his chest barely moving with small breaths. Clawing at the membrane, Jack shouted for Gabriel, his nails eventually puncturing the cocoon. Gabriel's eyes moved behind his eyelids and Jack sighed, pressing his forehead to Gabriel's chest in relief. It was a few moments later, that Gabriel stirred, groaning, his arms twitching.

“Jackie...What happened?” Gabriel grunted, trying to get up out of the membranes surrounding him, and rubbed at his forehead, “I couldn't separate my conscience...” He immediately opened his eyes and gripped Jack's biceps, “Did I hurt you?” He blinked as Jack stared into his eyes.  
“Gabe, your eyes...” Jack gently brushed his fingers across Gabriel's cheek bones, beneath his eyes, enraptured by Gabriel's glowing eyes, “Are you using magic now? They're black and red...but they're not glowing.” Gabriel flinched away and scrambled for anything to look into. A shattered mirror was on the ground, and Gabriel peered into the reflective glass and sighed pressing his own fingers into the skin around his eye sockets.  
“It must be a side effect of the fusion magic.” He looked away from the mirror and over towards where the blond girl was cowering by the priest's stand. “We need to contact the council, they need to know about what-”

The doors to the church burst open with a surge of electrical energy, and a white robed clergy stepped through the door.  
“Wizard Gabriel, you will step away from the girl, and release her to our custody. She is to stand trial for what she has done here tonight.” Gabriel snorted at the group before moving forwards, blocking their path both to an exhausted Jack and child.  
“She was under the influence of something, she didn't know what she was doing, not until after her own fear finally released her from it.” The warlock swooped an arm around the church, “This was small, she was a test that will lead to something bigger and you know it,” Gabriel pointed an accusing finger at them, “but you'd rather blame it all on a kid, on a defenceless child that probably doesn't even know her own powers yet. That's always been the White Council way.”

Gabriel dusted off his coat, helping up Jack before kneeling down to the girl, carefully handing her a handkerchief from his coat pocket.  
“What's your name, kid?” He watched her cautiously take the white silk, eyeing the robed wizards behind him with wide eyes.  
“Code name Mercy, subject forty-two. “ Mercy peered up at him, running her hands over the soft fabric in wonder.  
“Your real name, kid, what's that. You're not an experiment anymore.” Gabriel carefully took the handkerchief and dabbed at the grime on the girl's cheeks, careful not to spook her too badly.  
The blond girl looked at Gabriel's face, studying the crossing scars on his face, entranced by the now black scleras and red irises, “Angela? It seems,”She flexed her hands in wonder, “familiar some how.”

The group of white robed wizards were quick to advance as Angela grabbed the handkerchief back from Gabriel, and surrounded the two of them with questioning gazes aimed at Gabriel's eyes. Angela squealed and wriggled her back against the stone as one of them summoned a rune circle in the air. Glittering blue smoke curled around Angela before she was cast into a deep sleep with a single inhalation. Gabriel and Jack watched as the group surrounded her with wards, for when she unleashed magic when she awoke, and moved out of the church, casting a few glances back at them. The lightning mage nodded, “She will be in safe hands. I'm sure the council will be merciful after and investigation. Good evening Gabriel,” He smiled tightly at Jack, “White witch.” before leaving with the others.

Jack scowled at they left, “White witch? Was...the ball of light...” The blond flexed his hand, and looked down at his palm, where the skin was grazed like a carpet burn. Gabriel frowned and pulled Jack's hand towards him with a curious look.  
“White magic...how on earth?” He flipped Jack's hand, “How did I not sense it?!” Gabriel looked at him in amazement, “The white witches have been extinct for years Jackie!...Wait...How are you a white witch? They're typically female and-”  
Jack pulled Gabriel down for a kiss, a couple of tears escaping his eyes, “Shut up you buffoon! Let's go home.” He sighed and linked their fingers together before dragging the tired warlock out of the church, “Jesse needs us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT TOOK ME SO LONG BUT THIS WAS SO WORTH WRITING! I love writing Zombie stuff, and fighting/gore(ish) scenes in general so this was an experience. I hope it was worth the wait!  
> Thank you for reading. Comments and kudos etc are all greatly appreciated!
> 
> Spookworm.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this early Halloween snippet I suppose! But go and check out the artist please! They draw some great stuff for the AU and it gives me life! Hopefully I'll write some more for this, it's too good to let go.  
> Comments, kudos and bookmarks are all greatly appreciated!  
> Spookworm~  
> \---ON HOLD---


End file.
